The Golden Quartet - Year Three
by September And Summer
Summary: Amara Matthews is fresh from her second year at Hogwarts. Her third year is fast approaching after a nice relaxing summer, with an escaped Prisoner on the loose and Dementors surrounding the school. Add in Hogsmeade, tensions between friends, a cat and the Marauder's Map, Amara is in for a hefty ride! 3/7 in the series. Please R&R.
1. Holiday with the Reynolds

**_A/N so here's chapter one of the third book! Sorry about the delay - stuff happening and no inspiration and such 'n' such. The chapters will probably be uploaded slower than the last ones were but hopefully not to much of a gap, but next term at school will be lots of pressure, so i'm not sure yet. R&R! :) :)_**

**_Chapter One_**

**_Holiday with the Reynolds_**

"Amara! Amara, over here!"

Amara Matthews looked over her newly tanned shoulder to see her cousins, 16-year-old-by-one-week Jesse, 15-year-old Noah and 12-year-old Tally over by the swimming pool at their resort in Greece. Their two families – ten of them in total – had really splashed out on their holiday this year. Their accommodation was meant (and was) five stars, and Amara had a slight feeling Louis, her Uncle, had pulled some strings with the French Ministry to get such a good location and resort.

They had been there for nearly two weeks already, mainly staying by the swimming pool and refreshments bar. Luckily for them, they still had another two weeks before they had to return to England. Amara, Jesse, Noah and Tally had also started doing their holiday homework in the confines of their rooms, so they would not cause suspicion. Amara's parents had forbidden her to leave her wand lying around, so Louis, who was the only adult wizard, was keeping it safe in his room.

Amara had enjoyed her holiday very much so far – Jesse, though, had become a little antsy, because he was about to start his sixth year at Beauxbatons, which meant his LATs exams (Lower Application Tests) or FEEs in French (Faible Evalue Essais).

Her siblings, Ethan (who was 11, a very annoying age, for Ethan always was a pain in the backside) and Tessie (who was only 9) were there too, and asked a lot of questions to the five magical family members so they were more in touch with the wizarding world. The whole two families were expectant that summer – it was the decider to see if Ethan was magical as well. Amara hoped very much that he was, because it would mean fewer questions. Tessie, however, was deeply displeased, for she would be the only one left in the house with both her siblings away for a year.

Presently, the three Reynolds were waving madly from their loungers, sipping ice-cold lemonade from the waiter next to them. They had come down earlier than Amara, but all the rest of the family were still inside. Elisabeth and Bryony were inside, getting out of the sun, which had given them a headache.

"'ave you seen Dad, yet?" asked Jesse as she walked over. He had been practising perfecting his British accent over the last year, with the help of _Maître _Herriot, his English Professor and his mother, who was British herself.

"No," said Amara, flopping down next to Noah, who was reading a Quidditch magazine inside a boring translating book. "I haven't seen anyone, they're all dozing inside."

"Oh," said Jesse, frowning. "Didn't 'e tell you about what we are going to do today?"

"No," Amara said.

"We are going to ze wizard town! Eet is near 'ere!" burst out Tally excitedly. "I cannot wait! Eet iz going to be so exciting!"

"Everyone is going?" asked Amara in surprise, Elisabeth normally stood out of magic-based things.

Tally shook her head. "No, Mama ees going to ze muggle town with Aunt Bryony, Uncle David, Tessie and Ethan."

Amara nodded before reclining back on the lounger. She hadn't been able to contact any of her friends whilst she'd been away, but for the two weeks before she went to Greece, Hermione had stayed over, because she was going to France in the holidays with her parents. Amara had also been in contact with Ron, and she had sent a few letters to Harry with her own owl, for he had been forbidden to use Hedwig, eventhough she was allowed out of her cage. She was debating about what to do with his birthday coming up, for she had no means of getting it to him, as Archimedes was staying with Ron for a bit. Before she had gone away, she had received a very interesting letter from him.

_Dear Amara, _it read in Ron's usual scribbly handwriting.

_How are you? I know you're going to Greece soon, and Mum said that she'll look after Archimedes for a bit before you get back. I tried to phone Harry the other day, you know, by the fellatone number he gave us? Anyways, it went really badly, and I think he got into trouble, so I didn't try again. I'm warning you though – his Uncle is really horrible, and he said that Harry didn't live with him. I hope you have fun in Greece._

_From, Ron_

Amara was slightly upset with the letter, because it meant that they couldn't contact Harry as much as they had liked. She had also wondered if Ron had warned Hermione as well, which was irritating, because Hermione would have dealt with a telephone call much better than her or Ron, because she knew how to use them and how to talk smoothly, probably not mentioning Hogwarts at all, like Amara would have done. She wished that Harry didn't have to live with the horrible Muggles that called themselves 'family'.

-OOOOO-

"It is way, way, way too hot," moaned Tally as they walked through the crowded street of the wizarding town. The sun was blazing high in the sky, heating them up so that it was unbearable to walk. Many tourist wizards and witches were taking shelter in the cool, shady shops that littered the Ancient Greek street. So far, they had barely done anything, because the day was getting hotter and hotter. Louis had let them roam freely around, because he was going to meet some foreign wizards somewhere, because of his job.

Jesse, Noah and Tally, eventhough they were sort-of used to the baking hot weather in the South of France, were complaining profusely about the scorching sun. Amara had applied copious amounts of sun cream, because otherwise she's burn and ruin the tan she had built up over the first two weeks. All of them had opted for flip-flops and sandals, shorts and vest tops for their excursion.

"Shall we get an ice cream?" asked Amara desperately, spotting a small ice cream parlour the other side of the street. Tally, Jesse and Noah agreed readily, so the four of them hurried over to order their ice creams.

"You know," said Tally as they slurped them. "You haven't _really _talked about what you did at 'Ogwarts last year; we were too cooped up on school work and such."

Amara grinned. "You know, it was just as interesting as first year, but more terrifying."

The three Reynolds looked at her interestedly.

"Go on!"

"Well, first off, Harry heard these voice in the halls …"

And then, for the next two hours (with more ice creams) Amara told them of everything that had happened the year before. Jesse, Noah and Tally stared at her open-mouthed the entire time.

"How come we never get that sort of stuff?" demanded Jesse.

"All we get are winter balls," said Noah.

"And Adeline Page admitting she loved Jesse," Tally snorted. Amara remembered Adeline from her visit to France the year before. She had two brothers – Adrien and Alex, one older and one younger. She had always blushed in the vicinity of Jesse from what she could remember, much to his and Adrien's annoyance.

"Oh, what did you do?" asked Amara, trying not to laugh like Tally and Noah were.

Jesse looked awkward. "Well, I er …"

"Panicked?"

"Nearly fainted?"

"Ran away?"

"Stood there like an idiot?"

"Shut up!" Jesse said irritably. "I told her that I only saw her as – er – a friend."

"Only because you 'arbour a crush for 'Ermione Granger," giggled Tally, before clapping her hands over her mouth. She stared worriedly at Amara.

"_Tally!"_

"You like Hermione?" asked Amara, amused.

"I –"

"Only a little bit," said Tally, trying to redeem herself in the eyes of her brother. "I mean, he's never _met _her."

"Yet," supplied Noah, grinning at Amara.

Jesse slumped into his seat and scowled. Amara looked at him, rather amused. She hadn't really thought about it before – but Jesse and Hermione were very similar. And Hermione had been in correspondence with him all year (except when she was petrified).

"So, you think you –?" began Amara cheekily.

"It's not –" spluttered Jesse, his cheeks flushing. "I – just, don't tell her, please?"

"Of course I won't!" Amara exclaimed. "But –"

"Don't say anything!" said Jesse, his eyes closed and his hand up.

Amara, Tally and Noah sniggered.

"How was your first year, anyways?" asked Amara to Tally.

"It was great, thanks," said Tally. "I met some nice people – I stick with Alex though, try and get _him _out of trouble, especially with that Veela in Jesse's year, Fleur …"

Noah and Jesse snorted. "Yeah," they agreed. Amara did not know what they were talking about, so she changed the conversation.

"I need to find something for Harry, can we go and find something?" asked Amara. The four of them hurried across the road and into a small shop selling figurines.

After browsing for about half an hour, Amara bought a small moving Griffin, because she thought it was funny, them being Gryffindors and all. It actually moved, like a real Griffin, and came from Greece itself. The owner of the store put it in a small box with holes in, and told her it did not need feeding, ever.

She was very pleased with her find, but now she was worried about how on earth she'd get it to Harry.

-OOOOO-

The next evening, a surprising occurrence happened when Amara went back into their rooms. On the window sill was Archimedes, with a letter tied to his leg.

"_Archie!" _Amara whisper-yelled, hurrying over to the window. She peered out worriedly, but because the sun had set, everybody was inside. She held out her arm and Archimedes hopped on, nipping her affectionately.

"I missed you too," she grinned. "But what on earth are you doing here?"

"Amara?" asked Mr Matthews, coming through the doorway. "What? How did he get here? I thought he was staying with Ron!"

"Same," said Amara as the rest of her family came in.

"Owls are very clever," said Mrs Matthews. "Imagine flying all the way over to Greece! He must be exhausted! Let me get some …"

She bustled around the room, collecting water and something he could eat as the rest of them watched, amused. Amara's mother had always like Archimedes, ever since Amara had brought him home from Diagon Alley last year. She went out of her way to always make sure he was well fed and watered before making trips.

By the time Bryony was satisfied, Amara had nearly forgotten about the letter, but Tessie pointed it out quickly.

She unrolled the scroll and saw Ron's writing across the page.

_Dear Amara,_

_I really hope this gets to you – I expect Archimedes is better and more reliable than Errol. We were going to keep him for the next few days, but guess what? Dad won the annual _Daily Prophet _Grand Prize Galleon Draw! I couldn't believe it! So Mum and Dad have decided to book a trip to Egypt to see Bill, we're leaving tomorrow, and won't be back until the week before term starts. Seven Hundred Galleons! This means I can get a new wand next year, too! I hope no Greek muggles saw him as he flew to you, but it might be OK, you never know. I just wanted you to know that you can send him to us once he's finished delivering the letter, because Bill can look after him and stuff with Errol. Actually, Errol is off delivering a letter and Harry's present, hopefully it will get there on time, who knows what he'll do.  
I can't wait to go to Egypt – Fred and George say we can go to all the tombs and see all these mutant skeletons and stuff – how cool is that?  
We're going to London after we get back, any chance of seeing you? Owl me if necessary! _

_Hope everything is OK,_

_Ron_

_P.S We got the letters from Hogwarts last week, and Percy got Head Boy. He will not stop badgering on about it – it's driving us mad. Fred and George even threatened to shove the badge down the toilet, but Mum told them off._

Amara grinned. She was immensely pleased that the Weasley's had won the prize. They needed it the most. And they got a holiday, too! She grinned as she placed Archimedes on the chest of draws, where he immediately tucked his head under him wing. And the fact that Percy was made Head Boy could not deflate the happy news.

"The Weasley's have gone to Egypt!" she said happily.

"What will we do with Archimedes?" asked Mrs Matthews.

"I'll send him off tomorrow with Harry's present, I'll ask him to look after him for a bit, just for a week or so, we'll be back by then."

As her family got ready for bed, Amara got some pen and paper (which felt odd in her hands, because she was used to a quill) and set about writing her letter to Harry. She also wrapped up his present in some brown paper she found and some string, making sure she poked some holes through the paper for the little Griffin, who was currently asleep, since the last time she had checked.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday! I really do hope this gets to you on time, but Archimedes might be slightly tired.  
Have you heard about Ron and his family? How awesome is that? It's because of that that Archimedes came to me, because Ron was looking after him whilst I'm in Greece. It's really hot here, too hot, in fact, because all you want to do is escape the heat. Anyways, I hope you like the little present, I found him in a shop in the wizard town we visited yesterday. Luckily for me, Archimedes turned up because Ron is going away (probably is there now, who knows when he wrote it?) and he has nowhere else to go.  
There are wizarding places here in Greece, though, and Jesse made me re-write my History of Magic Essay to include all the stuff I found out – he sounds so like Hermione, it's un-real! I wish I was able to get the _Daily Prophet _delivered, but because I'm in a Muggle resort, it's quite hard to have it go unnoticed.  
Can you please, if it's no trouble, send him off to Ron once he gets to yours? Send a little note, too, explaining. I hope the Muggles are treating you OK, don't let them get to you – it will be fine!  
I'll be back in two weeks, probably less once you've got this. Ron said he's getting back a week before term starts and is going up to London then. Do you think you can make it? Please say you can, it'll be great to see you. If not, I'll see you on September 1st!_

_Love_

_Amara_


	2. News from Azkaban

**_Chapter Two_**

**_News from Azkaban_**

Amara's trip to Greece did not last as long as she would have liked. All too soon, they were boarding the plane back to England, having said goodbye to Aunt Elisabeth and Uncle David a while back in the airport because they were getting a flight back to France. Jesse, Noah and Tally were going over with Amara and her family to England to stay with them for the rest of the summer, because they had not been to England in years. Also, for them, Beauxbatons did not start on September 1st, but a few days later, which meant they were able to get ready before going back to school. She was very happy that the three Reynolds were going to stay, because it meant that they could meet her friends, which she had told them all about. Also, Jesse would meet Hermione, Tally would meet Ginny (who was the same age as her) and Noah would meet Fred and George, who were also in the same year as them. Hopefully before they left they'd finally meet Harry, who Tally had wanted to meet ever since Amara had told her she was friends with them.

The trip back on the plane was fairly uneventful, because everyone was very tired, as the flight was at night.

Amara's house was rather squishy now that three extra people were staying over. Jesse and Noah took Ethan's bedroom whilst he stayed in Tessie's room and Tally was in Amara's room with her. Amara's parents had their hands full with so many people inside the house. They now had six kids to look after as well as themselves, all ranging different ages – from 9 to 16. Elisabeth and Louis had phoned too, to see if they were happy. Even though Amara enjoyed having people to stay, she did wish that their house had an extra room for everyone to escape to.

A week after they had returned to England, two owls arrived at their house. One was a Hogwarts owl, which was carrying two letters. The other was Archimedes. She turned them over and saw that one was for her and the other one was for Ethan.

_Mr E. Matthews  
17 Stamford Close  
Winchester  
Hampshire_

Amara gasped at the familiar letter, which she had received two years before.

"ETHAN!" she hollered through to the kitchen, where everyone was, drinking milkshakes. "ETHAN, COME HERE!"

Ethan came slouching into the room, milkshake in hand with Tessie, Jesse, Noah and Tally coming in curiously behind him.

"I didn't do it!" he said.

"You better not have done _anything,_" snapped Amara instantly, for her brother had a very guilty conscience. "Because I won't give you your letter."

Ethan looked up in surprise.

"What letter?"

"This one," grinned Amara, waving it in his face. Ethan took a little glance at it before whooping.

"I GOT ONE!" he yelled. "I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS!"

Amara laughed and handed him his letter, which he ripped open excitedly. His face brightened considerably as he made his way down the letter.

"It's real!" he shouted happily. "_I'm magical!"_

"What's going on in here?" demanded Mrs Matthews, walking into the lounge with a wooden spoon in hand.

"Ethan's just excited, Aunt Bry," said Tally. "He got a letter."

"What letter?" asked Mrs Matthews, trying to calm an-overexcited 11 year old down.

"My HOGWARTS letter!" Ethan beamed at her. Mrs Matthews stared in shock at him before her face split into a wide grin.

"Oh, that's just _wonderful!" _she said excitedly. "You'll be able to see Hogwarts for yourself!"

"Can we go to Diagon Alley, Mum, please?" Ethan asked.

"Not today, sweetie, maybe soon, we'll see when Amara is going and then see if that fits," Mrs Matthews ruffled his brown hair affectionately.

Amara grinned as she opened her own Hogwarts letter.

'Third Year Students will require:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 3) _by Miranda Goshawk  
_Intermediate Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch

Elective Course Books:

_Unfogging the Future _by Cassandra Vablatsky (Divination)  
_The Monster Book of Monsters _by Edwardus Lima (Care of Magical Creatures)  
_Ancient Runes Made Easy _by Laurenzoo (Ancient Runes)  
_Spellmans' Syllabary _by Stephen Spellman (Ancient Runes)  
_Numerology and Grammatica _by L. Wakefield and M. Carneiro (Arithmancy)  
_Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles _by Wilhelm Wigworthy (Muggle Studies)'

After reading, she saw two pieces of parchment fall out of the envelope and onto the floor. She picked them up to read it.

_Dear Miss Matthews  
Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, Platform nine and three quarters, at eleven o'clock.  
Third-Years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade at certain weekends. Please give the enclosed form to your parent or guardian to sign.  
A list of books for next year is enclosed.  
Yours sincerely  
Professor M. McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress_

Amara grinned, having accidently opening the list of books first. She couldn't wait to be able to go to Hogsmeade at weekends – it was an entirely wizarding village!

_PERMISSION for VISIT to HOGSMEADE for_

_Amara M. Matthews_

_This document hereby serves to state the aforementioned_

_Third-year student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade at such a time_

_That the school arranges, and with the signature of the undersigned parent or guardian._

_The student shall abide by all such rules & regulations relevant to such expeditions and set by the school as per article 528/Z of the 1714 Edict._

_Print Name ..._

_Relation ..._

_Signature ..._

"Mum, look – I can go to Hogsmeade at weekends! You just need to sign my permission form so I can go!"

"What's Hogsmeade?" asked Mrs Matthews.

"An entire wizarding village – I think it's the only one in Britain!" said Amara, trying to remember.

"Sounds interesting! I'll sign it now, shall I?" she said, taking the permission form and signing it with flourish. "What's Archimedes got for you?"

"It must be a letter from Ron," said Amara, having forgotten he was there.

_Dear Amara  
Did you have a nice time on holiday? It's still really cool here, Bill took us round the tombs – Mum wouldn't let Ginny in the last one, because they had real gruesome stuff in them. Did you get Harry's present to him OK?  
Hermione says she can go to London the last day of the holidays, and we'll be back by then. Did you hear about Harry? He blew up his aunt! Dad told us yesterday – Fred and George found it hilarious. He's staying at the Leaky Cauldron now, according to Dad, so we'll be able to meet him there. We're all staying the night too, I don't know about Hermione yet, but can you? I know you have your cousins over, but they can come too, if they want.  
Hope to see you,  
Ron_

Amara grinned brightly at the letter, then thought about what he had said.

"What's up, Amara?"

"Harry – he blew up his aunt," said Amara, starting to laugh.

"_Blew up his aunt?" _Jesse echoed, amazed.

"Yeah, and now he's staying at the Leaky Cauldron," said Amara, folding the letter back up. "Mum – Ron and his family are staying the night on the last day of term, can we stay too? Me, Jesse, Noah and Tally? It's only for the night – then, you can pick them up on the way back from King's Cross to take them home."

Mrs Matthews thought about it.

"Hmm," she said. "It does sound like fun – and Jesse, Noah and Tally can meet all your friends – is Hermione staying too?"

"I don't know, I might phone her actually, because she hasn't replied to Ron's owl yet," she said.

Mrs Matthews nodded. "Alright, you go phone her now,"

Amara, Tally, Jesse and Noah all trooped into the kitchen to phone Hermione, who was back from France.

"Hello?" came her voice from the other end.

"Hermione!" said Amara happily. "Just a minute, I'll put you one speaker, Jesse, Noah and Tally are here too."

"Bonjour!" Tally said as Hermione's voice came through.

"Hello, Tally – Jesse and Noah."

"How was France?" asked Amara eagerly.

"Fantastic, I learnt so much, I re-wrote my whole essay with the stuff I found out, but it's two rolls of parchment now, do you think Professor Binns will mind?" she asked.

Amara laughed. "Of course not, I suspect he doesn't read them anyways,"

"'Ow are you, 'Ermione?" asked Jesse.

"I'm fine thanks … um, Jesse?"

"Yes, it's great to actually speak to you," he grinned and Amara, Noah and Tally exchanged knowing smirks.

"Are you going to stay at the Leaky Cauldron?" asked Amara.

"I don't know yet, are you?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, Jesse, Noah and Tally are too, it would be great for you to meet them," she said.

"OK, I will then – when does Beauxbatons start then, if it's not the 1st of September?"

"We don't go back until the tenth," said Noah. "Because the teachers sort everything out and stuff."

"Oh, Hermione, guess what?" said Amara excitedly.

"What?"

"Ethan's a wizard!" she grinned. "He got the letter today!"

"Oh, that's excellent, that must mean Tessie is too, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, it would be harsh if she wasn't," said Amara thoughtfully. "Anyways, have you heard about Ron's holiday? How cool is Egypt?"

"I'm so jealous, there must be so much about the magical community there!" Hermione moaned from the other side.

"And Ron said he went to all those gross tombs, with all those skeletons in there," said Amara enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I would prefer to go somewhere else …"

They all laughed.

"Amara!" Mrs Matthews came through. "D'you know how much you're costing us? You've been on there for ages!"

"Sorry Mum, sorry Hermione, we've gotta go – see you at the Leaky Cauldron then?" said Amara.

"Bye Amara, it was great to hear from you Jesse and Noah and Tally – see you!" said Hermione. "I'll meet you in the Leaky Cauldron to wait."

It became clear that something bad had happened in the wizarding world as Amara got back to normal in England. She was reading the Daily Prophets that had arrived when she was away and had found a disturbing story.

_BLACK STILL AT LARGE_

_Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.  
"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."  
Fudge has been criticised by some members of the International Confederation of Wizards for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis.  
"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it - who'd believe him if he did?"  
While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse._

The news had definitely reached Muggle's ears – her neighbours were prone to come around to gossip about the escapee with her mother, who was shocked to learn (after Amara had left the Daily Prophet on the table) that Sirius Black was actually a wizard.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," said Amara to Jesse, Noah and Tally. "I've read about Azkaban – nobody has ever broken out before."

"It must be serious if the Muggle's have been involved," said Jesse thoughtfully. "No wonder your Prime Minister is getting so much grief – everyone's afraid they'll be exposed."

Ron had also been owling her to talk about Black and tell her what he knew (which wasn't much).

_'Nothing like this has ever happened before, _(he had written in a few letters) _but they'll catch Black and send him back to Azkaban…'_

Hermione, though, had been sending her much more annoying owls. She was constantly hassling her to see if she had done all the required work (for they hadn't had summer work before) and that she had spent some time studying. Jesse thought she had a point whilst Noah and Tally found it hilarious.

"They'll be planning they're wedding soon," Noah whispered gleefully to Amara.

Amara did not like the fact that a mass-murderer was at large around Britain, for she knew that everything and everyone was going to be tight about security. Especially at Hogwarts.

The last day of the holidays was coming around very slowly. Ethan was clamouring to go to Diagon Alley, but Mrs Matthews insisted that they went the same time as Amara, so they could say goodbye properly and meet the Weasleys.

Mr Matthews had been shocked and pleased to find that Ethan was a wizard and was telling him things he should and shouldn't do there (Amara had stopped trying to interfere).

It was amazing how the three Reynolds' stuff seemed to have made its way to every corner of the house when they were packing their trunks and suitcases. They managed to pack the night before so that they could get to the Leaky Cauldron nice and early so they had a full day of shopping.

Amara found herself looking under sofas and in cupboards to see if the three messy cousins of hers had left anything. She had found a sock in the library, a book in the kitchen cupboard and a quill under the sofa. They all found this rather amusing as they finished off their packing.

The night before they all left was a joyful one. Mr Matthews gave them fizzy drinks in champagne glasses to make them laugh and they watched movies and played board games for most of the evening. It seemed that Amara's parents were sad to see two of their children go off for the entire year and them only seeing them a few times.

They got up at a good time the next day and they all were bundled up into Mr Matthews' large 8-seater van and set off for London.

Once they all bundled into the shabby pub, they spotted Hermione and the Weasley's in a booth waiting for them. The Weasley's had booked their rooms and had decided to have Tally stay with Ginny. Amara and Hermione were to share a room and so was Jesse and Noah. Mr Matthews went ahead to book the rooms, with the help of an excited Mr Weasley and a more-calmer Jesse.

"Alright Amara?" Ron grinned at her after her family had said goodbye to walk around Diagon Alley. "Is your brother magical too?"

Amara grinned and nodded. "Oh, this is Jesse, Noah and Tally, by the way, my cousins."

The other Weasley greeted Amara, Jesse, Noah and Tally and Mr Weasley immediately asked what the muggles were like in France to Jesse. Noah was speaking to Fred and George, for they were the same age and decided to head off to Diagon Alley to explore. Tally struck up a conversation with Ginny, who had greeted Amara enthusiastically, for they were also in the same year.

"Shall we go see if we can find Harry?" asked Hermione after a while.

"I bet Tom will know," Amara said and the three of them went over to ask the innkeeper.

"Sorry, ladies and gent, but he left not half hour ago," Tom said apologetically. "He went off to Diagon Alley."

"Oh," said Amara. "Shall we go and get our stuff then? We might bump into him in a shop."

Amara, Hermione and Ron bade goodbye to the Weasleys/Reynolds who were still inside the pub (Percy was now talking to Jesse eagerly about exams, which he was looking uncomfortable about) and went into the little yard to the entrance of Diagon Alley, which Amara couldn't wait to see again.


	3. The Leaky Cauldron

**_A/N So, Chapter Three ! :) Wow, there's this new format in Doc Manager - it even keeps the font I was using, strange. I bet it won't when I upload it. Hope you like it, and thanks for the reviews ^.^_**

**_Chapter Three_**

**_The Leaky Cauldron_**

Their first stop was Flourish and Blotts, to get all their new books. On the window display was a large iron cage with books in them that seemed to be ripping each other apart. Amara gulped as she walked in.

"Hello," said an assistant, walking towards them. "What can I do for you?"

Amara retrieved her school list from her pocket.

"Um we all need _Unfogging the Future_," she said first and the assistant immediately hurried away to get three copies. "Thanks, and I need _Ancient Runes Made Easy _and _Spellmans' Syllabary."_

"So do I," said Hermione and then listed off the other books for Arithmancy and Muggle Studies. "We also all need _The Monster Book of Monsters." _She said as the assistant came back with an armful of books. They all tumbled to the floor at Hermione's words.

"_Three?" _he gasped, looking pale as Amara and Ron picked up the books. He walked over and got some thick leather gloves. He gulped as they saw the books fight each other. Amara suppressed giggles for a look of concern once she saw his face. She was rather glad that she was not getting the books.

After several long minutes of waiting and spectating, three snapping books were handed to them.

"Never, _ever, _are we having them again," the assistant said as they went to pay. "Awful books, completely awful – would you like some Spellotape with that?"

"Yes please," said Amara as the assistant wrapped the books up so they could no longer bite.

Five minutes later they trooped over to Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, because Ron's robes were too small and Amara needed new ones, for hers were all damaged (from her rather clumsy days). Hermione sat down to wait for them, her bag of books bulging out of the sides. Ron and Amara were consequently dragged away from the area around Quality Quidditch Supplies, for they were intending on having a look at the new Firebolt broom that had been made.

Afterwards, Ron wanted to get his wand from Ollivanders, a shop which Amara had not entered since she bought her wand. Ollivander seemed pleased to see them again – discussing Amara's and Hermione's wand before moving onto Ron. After a few tries, Ron was the proud owner of a 14 inch Willow and Unicorn hair wand, which he placed carefully in a bag before leaving. They stocked up on Potion supplies and quills and parchment before going to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour, to see if they could see Harry anywhere.

They all bought their sundaes and after about five minutes, Ron spotted Harry's familiar crop of messy black hair in the crowds.

"Harry! HARRY!" They all waved him over.

"Finally!" Ron grinned. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and –"

"I got all my school stuff last week," explained Harry once he had sat down on the extra chair. "And how come you know I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad," said Ron.

"Did you actually blow up your aunt?" grinned Amara as she ate her sundae.

"I didn't mean to," said Harry, Ron and Amara laughed. "I just – lost control."

"It's not funny," Hermione said. "Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled."

"So am I," said Harry. "Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested." He looked at Ron. "Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?"

"Who knows," shrugged Amara. "But you can ask Mr Weasley anyways, we're all staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight – even Jesse, Noah and Tally!"

"You're all staying?" beamed Harry.

"Yeah, Hermione's parents dropped her off and my mum's in here somewhere, because Ethan is a wizard too."

"Oh, is he coming up this year?"

"Yeah, he's so excited," Amara said.

"Did you get all your new books and stuff?"

"Look at this!" Ron said, pulling his new wand out of the bag and showing Harry. "Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books – what about those _Monster Books _eh? The assistant practically cried when we said we needed three."

"What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, pointing to the three bags under the chair.

"Ergh, don't ask _that," _Amara said. "She's taking all the subjects, remember? What are they? Arithmancy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies –"

"Muggle Studies?" repeated Ron. "What are you taking that for? You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You know all about Muggles!"

"Wait, what did she say?" Amara grinned as Hermione glared at her. "_It'll be fascinating to learn about them from a wizarding point of view!" _Amara mimicked.

"Are you planning to eat or sleep this year, Hermione?" asked Harry as Ron and Amara laughed.

"I've still got ten Galleons," she said, ignoring them. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice _book?" _Ron asked.

"No, I don't think so," said Hermione, missing the sarcasm completely. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig, Amara's got Archimedes, Jesse's got Caesar and you've got Errol –"

"I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He pulled the familiar rat out of his pocket and dumped him on the table. "And I want him to get checked over, I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

Scabbers was looking much thinner than previous years and his whiskers seemed to droop.

"There's a magical creature shop over there," said Harry, pointing over his shoulder. "You can see if they've got anything for Scabbers and Hermione can get her owl."

After they finished their ice-creams they crossed the road to the Magical Menagerie.

Amara hadn't been inside before and found it very squishy indeed. All the walls were covered in cages and filled with squawking animals and some strange humming. There was another customer in the shop, asking about a double-ended newt. Amara looked around and saw massive purple toads, tortoises, orange snails (Amara shivered at the scene of them oozing across their glass containers) and a fat white rabbit that turned into a top hat. Lots of cats were prowling with a cage of screeching ravens in the cage next to them (the cats were looking rather peckish and pawing at their cage) and the source of the humming noise was found in some fur-balls. Some sleek black rats were playing a skipping game with their tails.

Ron approached the counter once the wizard had left.

"It's my rat," he said. "He's been a bit off-colour ever since I brought him back from Egypt."

"Bang him on the counter," said the witch (whose name tag read '_Beatrice'_) and she got some black spectacles from her pocket. As Scabbers was placed on the counter, the black rats stopped their game to stare at him.

"Hm," said Beatrice-the-witch. "How old is this rat?"

"Dunno," said Ron. "Quite old. He used to belong to my brother."

"What powers does he have?" asked Beatrice.

"Er –" said Ron, unsure how to answer, because all Scabbers did was eat and sleep.

Beatrice tutted loudly at Scabbers' missing toe.

"He's been through the mill, this one," she said.

"He was like that when Percy gave him to me," said Ron.

"An ordinary, common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live longer than three years or so," said Beatrice. Now, if you were looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of these …"

She pointed at the cocky black rats, who had started skipping again.

"Well, if you don't want a replacement, you can try this Rat Tonic," said Beatrice instead. She reached under the counter and retrieved a red bottle.

"OK," said Ron. "How much – OUCH!"

Something huge and ginger came soaring through the air and landed on Ron's head at its attempt to get at Scabbers.

"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" Beatrice screamed as Scabbers shot out of her hands and aimed for the door.

"Scabbers!" Ron shouted and rushed out after him, Harry followed too.

Amara stayed in the shop to see a rather large, ginger cat. It's fur was thick and fluffy and it's face was oddly squashed. It was quite nice, in Amara's opinion, because now it was purring as Hermione stroked it.

"Isn't he lovely?" Hermione said to her.

"Erm, he's alright."

"He's been here for ages now," said Beatrice. "Nobody has wanted him."

"Oh, poor Crookshanks," Hermione cooed. "I'll take him!"

"Are you sure?" blinked the witch. "Well, that's eight Galleons, then."

Hermione paid for the cat and Amara picked up Ron's discarded Rat Tonic that was on the counter.

They exited the shop to see Harry and Ron walking towards them.

"You_ bought_ that monster?" Ron said, aghast.

"He's _gorgeous, _isn't he?" Hermione beamed.

"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" Ron exclaimed.

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" Hermione said.

"And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing to his shirt pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"

"Oh, here's your Rat Tonic," said Amara, giving Ron the little red bottle. "It'll be OK, Scabbers won't have to see Crookshanks too much, he'll be in our dormitory."

"What's the problem?" Hermione said as Ron still looked annoyed. "Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in here for ages: no one wanted him."

"I wonder why," said Ron sarcastically as they started headed back up the cobbled street.

Mr Weasley was at the bar, chatting with Amara's Mum whilst Ethan and Tessie admired Ethan's new wand.

"Look, Amara!" said Ethan as the other three greeted Mr Weasley. "I've got my wand!"

"That's great, E," Amara grinned. "I'll try and see you on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow, alright? But I s'pect you'll sit with other first-years, then you can meet lots of new friends first."

Ethan smiled. "Can you pop in though? I'd like to see you."

Amara nodded.

"Can I go too?" whined Tessie, pouting.

"You're not old enough Tessie," said Mrs Matthews.

"I have to wait _two years," _Tessie moaned. "It's so unfair."

"How'd'you know you'll get in?" Ethan said.

"She showed some signs of Magic at Mrs Reynolds' house the other day," said Mrs Matthews. "I had to lie a lot about how her cat somehow got on the chandelier."

Tessie giggled. "It was so annoying; it was trying to eat my cake!"

Amara laughed.

"Well, we better get going – goodbye Amara, look after Tally, alright? Liz will kill me if anything does." Mrs Matthews said.

Amara nodded. "Bye, Mum, see you soon."

"Have a good year, dear – goodbye Arthur! It was nice seeing you!"

Mr Weasley grinned over his newspaper. "I'll show you out – are you getting a bus?"

After he'd hurried off, Mrs Weasley came in, followed by Percy, the new Head Boy, Ginny and Tally. Fred, George, Jesse and Noah followed them as well, all laughing heartedly about something.

Ginny, once seeing Harry, blushed very red and only managed a quick 'hello' to him. Tally, though, knew who he was immediately.

"'ello!" she grinned, her French accent getting thicker when she was excited. "Eet is nice to meet you finally! I'm Tally – Amara's cousin!"

"Oh," said Harry, looking rather shocked. "Hello, it's nice to meet you too."

Tally grinned, showing her white teeth before turning to the others.

"Hi again, Ron," she smiled. "Hermione."

Ron looked distinctly flustered as Fred and George sniggered.

"Harry, how nice to see you." Percy said rather formally.

"Hello, Percy," said Harry, with an odd look on his face, as though he was trying not to laugh.

"I hope you're well?"

"Very well, thanks –"

"Harry!" Fred said, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing with flourish. "Simply _splendid _to see you, old boy –"

"Marvellous," said George, pushing Fred to the side and grabbing Harry's hand. "Absolutely spiffing."

Amara giggled as Percy scowled.

"That's enough, now," said Mrs Weasley.

"Mum!" said Fred and seized her hand. "How really corking to see you –"

"I said, that's enough," said Mrs Weasley, who was putting all her bags on a chair. "Hello, Harry, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" she pointed at the silver badge on Percy's shirt. "Second Head Boy in the family!" she said.

"And last," Fred muttered.

"I don't doubt that," said Mrs Weasley, frowning. "I notice they haven't made you two Prefects."

"What do we want to be Prefects for?" said George In disgust. "It'd take all the fun out of life."

Ginny and Tally giggled from their seats.

"You want to set a better example to your sister!" snapped Mrs Weasley.

"Ginny's got other brothers to set her an example, Mother," said Percy. "I'm going up to change for dinner …"

George sighed.

"We tried to shut him in a pyramid," he said. "But Mum spotted us."

Jesse and Noah approached them.

"'ello, 'Arry," Noah said. "I'm Noah, Amara's other cousin."

"Hello," Harry said.

"Alright?" asked Jesse as he shook his hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"You too," grinned Harry.

Amara, Hermione, Ginny and Tally went up to their rooms to put their new stuff (Tally had bought lots of stuff too, which Jesse hadn't noticed yet). They were staying in rooms fourteen and fifteen, so right next door, which meant Ginny and Tally visited them before dinner.

"I wish _I _went to 'Ogwarts," said Tally. "Instead of living in France, then I wouldn't be so far away."

"Which house d'you suppose you'd be in?" said Ginny, who got along very well with Tally.

"I'm in _Ouest _Wing," said Tally. "Our animal is a butterfly – un _papillon, _it's gold, and we wear them on our robes."

"Do you get sorted?"

"No, we get divided, but Jesse and Noah are in West wing too, so that's why I am."

"You could probably be a Ravenclaw," Hermione said (predictably).

"Or a Gryffindor," Ginny and Amara said together.

-OOOOO-

There were a lot of people at dinner that night. Tom the innkeeper put four tables together so that the seven Weasleys, three Reynolds, Amara, Hermione and Harry could eat through all five courses.

"How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?" asked Fred, as they started their chocolate pudding.

"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," replied Mr Weasley.

Everyone looked up.

"Why?" asked Percy.

"It's because of you, Perce," said George seriously. "And there'll be little flags on the bonnets, with HB on them …"

"… for Humungous Bighead," said Fred.

Everyone but Mrs Weasley and Percy snorted into their puddings. Amara choked on hers and Noah thumped her on the back, grinning.

"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked.

"Well, as we haven't got one anymore," said Mr Weasley. "and as I work there, they're doing me a favour …"

His ears went red.

"Good job, too," said Mrs Weasley. "Do you realised how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground … You are all packed, aren't you?"

"Ron hasn't put his new things in his trunk yet," sniffed Percy. "He's dumped them on my bed."

"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning," Mrs Weasley said, making Ron scowl at Percy. "Are you three alright getting back?" she asked Jesse, Tally and Noah.

"It's fine, Auntie Elisabeth is going to pick us up on the way back from dropping Ethan off," grinned Tally.

Mrs Weasley smiled and nodded.

Amara and Hermione went upstairs with Ginny and Tally after dinner to check they were all packed. Fred and George were next door and their room was uncharacteristically silent, so Amara, who had packed everything and put Archimedes in his cage, went to investigate.

They were crouched on the landing outside number twelve, which seemed to be Ron and Percy's room.

"What're you doing?" Amara asked, tripping slightly on the floor.

"Careful," said Fred, smirking. "We've been improving Percy's Head Boy badge."

They showed her and Amara saw it now read _Bighead Boy._

Amara snorted slightly, hearing raised voices from the ajar door.

"Poor Ron," she sniggered. "He's getting the blow for it."

"It's only a matter of time …" George whispered.

"WHERE'S FRED AND GEORGE?"

Amara, Fred and George sprinted back to their rooms at full speed.


	4. The Dementor

**_A/N Next Chapter! :) It's slightly longer, so that's why it took so long to get put up. Please R&R - thanks for all the reviews/alerts/favourites so far! It makes me very pleased! Hopefully you will all like the Sorting Hat song as well - they're so hard, I don't know how J.K did it! _**

**Disclaimer for the rest of the chapters of this book:********_All rights belong to J.K Rowling and other affiliations, such as WB Studios etc. Amara and her family, as well as people not recognizable are mine :) _**

**_Chapter Four_**

**_The Dementor_**

Eventhough they had packed the night before, there was a mad rush the next morning to get ready before the Ministry cars arrived. The morning started off rather well, for they went down to breakfast and Mrs Weasley told them about a Love Potion she had made when she was their age, which made Amara, Hermione, Ginny and Tally rather giggly whilst eating which seemed to infuriate an already-annoyed Ron, because Percy had accused him of many things during the night. However they had no chance to speak again when trying to get all their trunks down the narrow staircase and piling them up by the door where Archimedes, Hedwig and Hermes (Percy's owl) sat on top of them in their cages, and Crookshanks in a small wickerwork basket on the floor. He did not like it in there, for he kept spitting and hissing, which made anyone coming in skirt around it in fright.

"It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooed. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't," snapped Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh?" he pointed at a large lump in his pocket.

Whilst Mr Weasley marched Harry over to the awaiting cars, Amara squeezed through the crowds to say goodbye to Jesse, Noah and Tally, who had been lounging on chairs and laughing at the struggles they faced. They had actually offered to help, but had found it was safer not to.

"Bye, Amara," said Tally.

"Are you sure you'll be alright getting back?" Amara asked.

"Sure, your mum knows where to find us," said Jesse. "You'd better get going though."

"See you soon, then?"

"Yes," said Noah. "But hurry up."

"Good luck, Jesse!" Amara said as she hurried away, back to her trunk and hurried into the car that held Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Thank Merlin," said Ron. "I thought you were going to be Percy."

Amara laughed. "Well, good riddance that it's me, then!"

Nothing happened on the way to Kings Cross, but the cars seemed to squeeze between gaps that no other cars could, which made them have twenty minutes to spare when they arrived. They all got trolleys and wheeled their way through the station, Mr Weasley and Harry going through first, then Percy and Ginny, who decided to run it. Amara and Hermione went after Fred and George (who decided to run too) and Ron and Mrs Weasley brought up the rear.

They all went down the train to an end carriage that looked empty. They loaded all the trunks onto the train and put Hedwig, Crookshanks and Archimedes on the luggage rack. Then, they hopped off the train to say goodbye.

Mrs Weasley kissed all her children, then Hermione, then Amara and then Harry. Amara was quite startled but pleased that she did, because it proved Mrs Weasley liked her.

"I've made you all sandwiches," she said as she opened her enormous bag. "Here you are, Ron … no, they're not corned beef … Fred? Where's Fred? Here you are, dear …"

She had made Amara and Hermione some too, which they were pleased with.

The train was getting ready to leave when they all marched on, but Harry was off talking to Mr Weasley.

"Did you say goodbye to your cousins?" asked Hermione when they were waiting.

Amara nodded. "Did you?"

"Yes, I did it last night," she said.

As the train finally started to move, Ron flung open the door so that Harry could jump on too. They all waved out the window until Mr and Mrs Weasley had disappeared from view. Percy, Fred and George wandered off as they went round the bend.

"I need to talk to you in private," said Harry quietly.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," Ginny huffed and stalked off.

They all went down the train to look for an empty compartment. Amara spotted Ethan in one, with two other first-years. They seemed to be twins, a boy and a girl, each with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Ethan introduced them as Edward and Piper McKenzie, and they turned out to be very sweet. Amara told them that they were going to be in a compartment down the end of the train.

They did not find an empty compartment until the very last one, where a man was sitting, fast asleep by the window. Amara was surprised, for she hadn't seen an adult on there before, except the dear old witch who had the food trolley. The adult was wearing shabby robes and looked ill. He was young though, with brown hair with grey strands peaking though. There was a battered old case in the luggage rack that said '_Professor R.J. Lupin' _on the side.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron whispered as they sat down away from the window.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," said Hermione.

"How d'you know that?"

"It's on his case," said Hermione, making Amara snort.

"Wonder what he teaches?" Ron asked.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, I guess," said Amara. "That's the only empty slot, isn't it?"

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron, looking doubtful. "He looks like on good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway … Harry, what we you going to tell us?"

Harry told them about the conversation he had overheard from Mr and Mrs Weasley the night before. The news was, that Sirius Black, the mass-murderer and escapee was after _Harry, _and that's why he had escaped Azkaban – to track him down at Hogwarts to finish him off.

"Sirius Black escaped to come after _you? _Oh, Harry … you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry …" said Hermione.

"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry. "Trouble usually finds _me."_

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron.

"Pretty idiotic," Amara said hollowly. "Nobody's ever escaped before, and considering he's a mass-murderer, I suspect he was in a high-security prisoner."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him, too …"

"What's that noise?" asked Ron suddenly.

A faint whistling was coming from somewhere in the compartment.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and rummaging through it. He brought out what looked like a small, glass spinning top that was spinning very fast and glowing.

"Is that a _Sneakoscope?" _asked Hermione and Amara got up to see what it did.

"Yeah … mind you, it's a very cheap one," said Ron. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" asked Hermione.

"No! Well … I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys … but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

"What does it do?" asked Amara.

"It tells you when something bad is happening," said Ron, shoving it in some horrible socks in Harry's trunk to make it shut up.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron. "They sell that sort of stuff in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff, Fred and George told me."

"DO you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain …"

"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron, "but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"

"What's that?" asked Amara eagerly.

"It's this sweetshop," said Ron dreamily. "Where they've got _everything …_ Pepper Imps – they make you smoke at the mouth – and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next …"

Amara's stomach growled at the thought.

"I can't _wait _to get there," she sighed. "It sounds _amazing."_

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" said Hermione.

Amara did not listen to her historic talk as Ron carried on with his sweet talk.

"Massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," Ron was saying.

"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"

"'Spect it will," said Harry. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."herH

"What?" Amara said.

"I can't go, the Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either."

"_You're not allowed to come? _But – no way – McGonagall or someone will give you permission."

Harry laughed hollowly.

"or we can asked Fred and George, they know every secret passageway out of the castle."

"Ron!" said Hermione. "I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of school with Black on the loose –"

"But if _we're _with him," said Ron. "Black wouldn't dare!"

"Don't be stupid," said Amara. "We're not going to stop Black – he's killed a whole bunch of people, I don't think he'd stop just because three thirteen year olds are with him."

Hermione was opening Crookshanks basket.

"Don't let that thing out!" Ron said, just as Crookshanks leapt out, stretched, yawned and jumped onto Ron's knees.

"Get out of it!" Ron said angrily, swatting him away.

"Ron, don't!" Hermione said, just as angrily.

They were about to continue, but Professor Lupin stirred. They all watched apprehensively, but he just shifted and carried on sleeping.

The journey carried on steadily, the clouds thickening and the people outside were racing back and forth. Amara went to check up on Ethan once before deciding that he looked uncomfortable with her there (much to her amusement) so she hurried back to her compartment in time to catch the trolley to buy some food to go with the sandwiches.

"D'you think we should wake him up?" Ron asked. "He looks like he could so with some food." He was talking about Professor Lupin.

"Er – Professor?" Hermione asked. "Excuse me – Professor?"

He carried on sleeping.

"Don't worry dear," said the witch as she gave Harry his food. "If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be up front with the driver."

"I suppose he _is _asleep?" Ron said once they were by themselves. "I mean – he hasn't died has he?"

"I think we could tell if he was dead," Amara said, munching on a Chocolate frog. "Look – his chest is moving."

Once it started to rain, about Mid-Afternoon, they experienced some not very welcome guests who walked into their compartment, as if they owned the whole train. It was Draco Malfoy, with his usual bodyguards, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

Amara hated all of them – especially Malfoy, who was intent on beating Harry in whatever way he could.

"Well look who it is," he drawled immediately. "Potty and the Weasel."

"Very clever," Amara snapped.

"Shut it, Mudblood," Malfoy bit back. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

All three of them stood up, eventhough Amara was nearly half the size of Crabbe and Goyle, who seemed to have got wider during the summer.

Lupin gave a snort.

"Who's that?" Malfoy said, taking a step back.

"New teacher," said Harry, getting ready to hold Ron back. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy scowled and stalked away down the corridor.

They all sat down again, Ron looking furious.

"I'm not going to take any rubbish from Malfoy this year," he said. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and –"

He made a particularly violent gesture.

"_Ron!" _Hermione hissed. "Be careful …"

"C'mon Hermione, he's dead asleep," Amara said, peering over to a still sleeping Professor Lupin.

They didn't speak much after that, and Amara nearly fell into a doze, but was jolted out when the train started slowing down.

"Brilliant," said Ron, walking to the window. "I'm starving, I wasn't to get to the feast."

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione.

"But then, why's the train slowing down?" Amara asked, walking to the window too.

The train's speed continued to decrease, and finally the piston noise fell away, leaving the thunder of the wind and rain.

Amara went back over to the door, where Harry was sticking his head out.

"What –" she began to say, but the whole train stopped with a jolt and several thumps told them that the trunks had fallen off the luggage rack. Then they were all plunged into darkness for the lamps went out.

"What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind them.

The compartment door opened and a small figure stood in the threshold.

"Amara?" it whispered and Amara suddenly knew it was Ethan.

"Ethan!" she said. "Come sit down – where are your friends?"

"They went to find their brother, do you know what's going on?" he sounded tearful.

"It's alright, but we don't know yet," Amara said reassuringly.

Ron wiped a patch clean on the window so he could see through.

"There's something moving out there," said Ron. "I think people are coming aboard …"

The door opened again and someone fell over Harry's legs.

"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry …"

"Hello, Neville," said Harry.

"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea! Sit down …"

There was a hiss and a squeak as Neville sat down on the seat Crookshanks had decided to occupy.

"I'm going to go ask the driver what's going on," said Hermione. Amara put her arms around Ethan, who was shivering slightly.

The door slid open and then there was a thud with two squeals.

"Who's that?"

"Who's _that?"_

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron –"

"Come in and sit down –"

"Mind Crookshanks!" Amara said.

"No here! I'm here!"

"Ouch!"

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice that made everyone freeze.

It was Lupin, awake and holding a handful of flames in his hand.

"Stay where you are," he said. Then, he made his way over to the door.

The door, however, opened before he'd reached it.

A cloaked figure was in the doorway, reaching high up and in a long black cloak. Amara shook as she saw that its face was completely covered.

It drew in a huge, rattling breath and an intense coldness swept through the compartment. Amara started shaking, not able to produce a happy thought or memory – everything horrible suddenly came back to her. She good hardly see as she heard a thump next to her.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go," said Professor Lupin through the dim light. Amara watched, shaking, with Ethan clinging onto her, as the figure did not move. Then, Professor Lupin got his wand out and muttered under his breath. Something silver shot out of his wand, straight at the figure. The figure turned and glided away, all in the matter of a few minutes.

Suddenly, the lamps flickered back on and the engine roared into life again. Amara shook off the feeling of coldness as the familiar movements of the train got back into motion.

She saw Harry lying on the floor, looking as though he had fainted. Ron, knelt down next to him a slapped his face.

"Harry! Harry! Are you alright?"

"W-what?"

Harry seemed to have opened his eyes.

Ron and Hermione managed to heave him back in his seat.

"Are you alright, Harry?" asked Amara

"Yeah," said Harry, moving to the door. "What happened? Where's that – that thing? Who screamed?"

"No one screamed," said Ron.

"But I heard screaming –"

There was a loud snap that made everyone start, but it turned out to be Lupin breaking an enormous piece of chocolate into pieces.

"Here," he said, giving a big bit to Harry. "Eat it. It'll help."

"What was that thing?"

"A Dementor," said Lupin, handing around the chocolate to everyone, including Amara and Ethan. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."

Nobody ate the chocolate. Lupin crumpled up the wrapper.

"Eat," he instructed. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me …"

He disappeared through the door.

"Are you sure you're OK, Harry?" asked Hermione anxiously.

"I don't get it, what happened?"

"Well – that thing – the Dementor – stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face) – and you – you –"

Feeling rather sick, Amara tried to tune the explanation out so she didn't have to go through it again.

"It was horrible," said Neville in a high voice. "Did you feel how cold it went when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron. "Like I'd never be cheerful again …"

Ginny gave a small sob, so Amara put her other arm around her, hugging her too.

"Everything nice just went away," Amara said quietly. "All the bad memories remained."

"But didn't any of you – fall off your seats?" said Harry.

"No," said Ron. "Ginny was shaking like mad though, and Amara."

Lupin came back for a little while, and Amara found that the chocolate helped tremendously. Ethan eventually went back to find Edward and Piper, after being reassured that everything was fine – but other than that, they did not speak much at all. When they finally arrived, they all trooped out onto the noisy and tiny station. The rain was pouring down, making them get soaked through. Amara felt sorry for Ethan, who had to travel on the boats in the horrible weather. They made their way up the mud track and into one of the carriages that were pulled by Thestrals. Amara was able to see them, for she had seen her Great-Grandmother pass away in her sleep when she was ten. Hermione peered at the shafts, but could not see them, so she ended up giving harry nervous glances the entire ride.

Two Dementors were floating outside the gates when they passed through, a horrible coldness sweeping through the carriage like it had on the train.

Hermione leant out the tiny window, watching as the castle got nearer, whilst Ron and Amara sat on the seats, watching Harry.

"You _fainted, _Potter?" came a drawling, delighted voice as soon as they had gotten out of the carriage. "Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually _fainted?"_

Draco Malfoy was once again in their presence, looking positively gleeful at the prospect of Harry being 'weak'.

"Shove off, Malfoy," said Ron.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley? Did the scary old Dementor frighten you, too, Weasley?"

Amara nearly stepped forwards to punch him one, but Professor Lupin's mild voice interrupted.

"Is there a problem?"

"Oh, no – er – _Professor," _Malfoy said, with sarcasm laced in his words.

They followed the now-vanished Slytherins into the Entrance Hall. They had barely reached the Great Hall when a voice sounded out behind them. "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

Amara turned around with Harry and Hermione, who were looking very surprised as Professor McGonagall came striding towards them.

"There's no need to look so worried – I just want a word in my office," she said. "Move along there, Weasley, Miss Matthews."

Sharing a glance, Ron and Amara headed into the Great Hall without Harry and Hermione.

They sat across from each other at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the sorting to begin.

"Siblings do get into the same house, don't they?" asked Amara as she adjusted her hat, which was slipping down her forehead. She was glad that she only had to wear it at feasts like these (she usually kept it in her bag for her lessons).

"I'm not sure," said Ron thoughtfully. "I mean, Parvati and her sister aren't, are they?"

Amara nodded. "I suppose,"

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, strolled into the hall with the small crowd of nervous-looking first years traipsing behind. Amara saw Ethan in the middle of Edward and Piper, the twins, all of which were looking rather pale.

The Sorting Hat was placed on the stool and everyone waited expectantly.

'_You may think I'm just a hat,  
But how can you be sure?  
Just sit down on this stool with me,  
Are you brave or loyal or pure?_

_I can sort you in a house,  
Where you most belong.  
Get your head up, open your ears,  
Listen clearly to my song:_

_The first house belongs to Gryffindor,  
Which is the house of brave.  
Their daring reaches to their roots,  
And thrills are what they really crave._

_The next house is Hufflepuff,  
They are hardworking and true.  
This kind-hearted clan are loyal,  
And treachery, they'll never do!_

_The third house is Ravenclaw,  
These folk always seek more learning.  
They study hard and most are smart,  
But they're always yearning._

_The last house is Slytherin;  
This is the place of craft.  
These cunning people always achieve,  
And never show they're daft._

_So put me on and don't be scared,  
As I know where you belong.  
There is only one thing left to do,  
Because I have finished with my song.'_

Amara clapped along with the rest, eager to see where her brother was going to be.

"Abraham Keith!"

"_Ravenclaw!"_

The small, black-haired boy tripped his way over to where the Ravenclaws were clapping. Amara waited impatiently for the sorting to move on.

The first Gryffindor did not arrive until 'Evergreen Georgia', and this made the Gryffindor table clap hardest of all.

'Greengrass, Astoria' was sorted into Slytherin, like her sister and 'Higgins Lucinda' was put into Hufflepuff.

After ages of waiting 'Matthews, Ethan' was called up by Professor Flitwick.

Ethan looked as though he was shaking as Piper pushed him forwards. He walked up to the stool and sat down, the hat covering his face.

The students waited for the Sorting hat to deliver its answer. Amara waited with bated breath … and waited.

"He's going to be a Hat Stool if he's on there for another minute," said a fifth-year down the table.

Finally, the Sorting Hat opened its mouth and said:

"_GRYFFINDOR!"_

Amara clapped widely with the rest as Ethan flopped down, looking exhausted, near them.

"You alright?" asked Amara over the noise. Ethan nodded, looking happier.

"It couldn't decide over Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," he said, before turning to watch Edward being sorted.

Edward McKenzie's sorting took a fraction of a second – as soon as it was placed on his head, the Sorting Hat yelled '_Gryffindor!', _and Edward joined Ethan at their table.

"McKenzie, Piper!"

"_Ravenclaw!"_

Edward seemed to sigh slightly as Piper gave a mighty grin and hopped off towards the Ravenclaw table. She gave her twin thumbs up on the way.

"She seems too bouncy for Ravenclaw," Ron observed as 'Payne Jessica' became a Gryffindor.

"It's weird, that isn't it? She must be clever, then," Amara said. The Sorting was now down to the 'R's. "I wonder where Harry and Hermione are?"

"I want to know what McGonagall wanted with them," said Ron.

"Hmm, it's strange, maybe they're asking him about the events in the summer? Or about Sirius Black?"

"What about Hermione?"

"School work is my only guess – have you _seen _how many extra subjects she's taking?" Amara said as 'Vane, Romilda' became a Gryffindor.

Harry and Hermione did not show up until Flitwick was putting the stool away.

"Where have you been?" asked Amara as Harry sat down next to her, with Hermione across, next to Ron.

But Professor Dumbledore chose that moment to stand, so the noise died down as everyone looked at him.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things o say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast ..."

Dumbledore paused slightly before he continued: "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some if the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises - or even Invisibility Cloaks," Amara gulped slightly. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs foul of Dementors."

Percy puffed out his chest in a rather sickening manor, so Amara turned away, wrinkling her nose.

"On a happier note," Dumbledore said. "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to the ranks this year.  
Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was a slightly unenthusiastic applause at that, but Amara and the rest of the people in their compartment clapped hard.

Snape was looking at Lupin with upmost loathing when Amara glanced at him.

"As to our second appointment," Dumbledore carried on. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Amara was stunned at this news, but clapped hard along with the rest of the Gryffindor table, who had put it on themselves to make the most noise.

"We should have known!" Ron roared, adding to the noise. "Who else would have set us a biting book?"

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore said. "Let the feast begin!"

Amara grinned as the plates filled with food. She piled her plate high and began to devour it, along with Ron. Harry and Hermione ate smaller portions and kept looking over to where Hagrid was eating. During the course of the meal, Ethan introduced Edward properly to her.

"You can call me Ed, or Eddie," Edward said, grinning as he swallowed some food. "Everyone does. I love it here at Hogwarts, been wanting to go ever since Alec did – he's in fourth year, Hufflepuff. All our family have been in different houses – my mum was a Slytherin, Dad was a Ravenclaw – like Pip, though. I take after my Grandfather – he was a Gryffindor too."

Amara grinned at the boy's excitement.

"It's a shame, though, that Pip isn't in the same house," he carried on. "I mean, I always knew she was cleverer than me – but she was more like a Gryffindor than me, as well! Everyone said she'd go into this house – Alec said I'd make a good Hufflepuff, but," Eddie smirked. "Obviously not."

Finally, the last remains of the puddings vanished and Dumbledore let them go to bed. Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione (after instructing Ethan to follow a prefect) hurried up to the teachers table to congratulate Hagrid.

"Congratulations, Hagrid!" Amara and Hermione squealed together.

"All down ter you four," Hagrid beamed. "Can' believe it … great man, Dumbledore … came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough … it's what I always wanted …"

He buried his face in his napkin, and McGonagall shooed them off.

Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the left over Gryffindors up the marble staircase, along corridors and finally to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Coming through, coming through!" Percy called. "The new password's _Fortuna Major!"_

"Oh no," said Neville, rather sadly.

Ethan and Eddie were waiting in the common room to say goodnight, and after they had, Amara dragged herself upstairs and flopped onto her bed, half-heartedly changing into her pyjamas.

After bidding the other girls, Hermione, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Sophie Roper, good night, Amara closed her curtains and smiled contently, ready for a new year to begin.


	5. Talons and Tea Leaves

**_A/N Helloo again, readers! Thanks for the reviews - and I am sorry I didn't update earlier, but I've had lots of stuff going on, like learning French CA Speaking (yay-.-) Head Girl speeches and other stuff! So sorry, but I forgot that the chapters now get very long and take longer to write! Hope you like it - please R&R! :) _**

**_Chapter Five_**

**_Talons and Tea Leaves_**

Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the Great Hall the next day to find Draco Malfoy entertaining a clan of Slytherins with Harry's fainting fit.

"Just ignore him, Harry," growled Amara, steering Harry on. "They're just being stupid …"

"Hey, Potter," shrieked Pansy Parkinson, a pug-faced girl that Amara strongly disliked, and had the 'pleasure' of becoming her for an hour last year. "Potter! The Dementors are coming, Potter! _Woooooooo!"_

"What a _cow,_" Amara said as they walked down the length of the table.

Harry sat next to George Weasley whilst Amara placed herself next to Fred.

"New third-year timetables," George said, handing them over. "What's up with you, Harry?"

"Malfoy," said Ron, sitting the other side of George.

The twins looked up to see Malfoy pretending to faint.

"That little git," George said. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the Dementors were down our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," said Fred, making Amara choke on her tea. Fred thumped her on the back (smirking as he did so) as she grabbed a napkin.

"I wasn't too happy myself," said George after Fred and Amara had finished. "They're horrible things, those Dementors …"

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.

"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" said Harry.

"Forget it, Harry," said George. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been. He came back all weak and shaking … They suck the happiness out of a place, Dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

"Anyway," said Fred, changing the subject. "We'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match. Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

Amara helped herself to some more breakfast, looking at her new timetable, which was propped up by a jug in between her and Fred.

"Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today," Hermione said, rather happily.

"Hermione," said Ron, peering over Hermione's timetable. "They've messed up your timetable. Look – they're got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough _time."_

"Ten subjects?" echoed Amara, reaching over and grabbing Hermione's timetable and examining it, with Fred looking over her shoulder. "Hermione, this morning you've got nine o'clock Divination, nine o'clock Muggle Studies _and _nine o'clock Arithmancy! How on earth are you meant to be in three classes, all at the same time?"

"She's got a point," noted Fred.

Hermione scowled. "It's fine, I've sorted it with Professor McGonagall – I won't be in three classes at one."

"Then how are you going to make it, then?"

"Pass the marmalade, Ron," said Hermione.

"But –"

"Seriously –"

"Oh, what's it to you if my timetable's a bit full?" Hermione snapped. "I told you, I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall!"

Hagrid came in then, wearing his moleskin overcoat and swinging a dead polecat from one hand. Amara looked away at this, which made Fred and George smirk at her.

"Al righ'?" he said on the way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready … hope it's OK … me, a teacher … hones'ly …"

He grinned and walked off for his breakfast.

"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" said Ron, slightly anxiously.

"Let's just hope for something small," Amara said.

As the Hall started to empty, Ron checked what their first lesson was.

"We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of the North Tower, it'll take us ten minutes to get there …"

They finished their breakfast, said goodbye to Fred and George, who seemed to be eating whatever they found, and walked out of the Hall.

Due to the fact that going to the North Tower was a new experience for the quartet, it took much longer than ten minutes to get there.

"There's – got – to – be – a – short – cut," Ron panted as they climbed up a staircase and found themselves on a corridor they'd never visited before.

"I think it's this way," said Hermione, pointing down to the right.

"Can't be," said Ron. "That's south, look, you can see a bit of the lake out the window."

"Where is it then?" Amara said. "We'd better go this –" she suddenly jumped as a voice in front of her yelled: "AHA!"

It was a fat, short knight that seemed to have fallen off the horse that was in the painting with it.

"What villains are these that trespass upon my private lands? Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!" he yelled.

Amara sniggered as the knight drew his too-long sword and fell over.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry.

"Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!"

The sword got stuck in the ground as the knight tried to get back up.

"Look," Amara said, rather impatiently. "We're trying to get to the North Tower, d'you know where it is?"

"A quest!" the knight roared, his rage vanishing. "Come follow mw, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!"

He tried to get his sword and failed, then tried to mount his pony, which was still eating and failed. "On foot then, good sirs and gentle ladies! On! On!"

And off he ran through the left of his portrait and out of sight, the noise of his armour echoing through the halls. The four friends ran after him, spotting him in various paintings.

"Be of stout heart, the worst is yet to come!" yelled the knight.

Panting, gasping and clutching a stitch, Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione went up the narrow spiral staircase – up and up, round and round, getting dizzier with each turn. Finally, they heard voices above.

"Farewell!" cried the knight. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"

"Yeah, we'll call you," muttered Ron. "if we ever need someone mental."

They finally emerged where their classmates had gathered on a tiny landing.

"I really need to get used to these staircases," Amara said, trying to get rid of the stitch she had obtained.

She looked up to see a circular trap door with a brass plaque reading: '_Sybill Trelawney, Divination Teacher'_.

The trapdoor opened and a silver ladder descended at Harry's feet.

When it was Amara's turn to go up the ladder, she did so with caution, hoping that she wouldn't fall off backwards. She made it into a strange looking classroom. There were twenty small round tables and fat pouffes. The room was lit in a dim, red light, the curtains closed and lamps decorated with scarves. There was a fire which made the room horribly warm, and it was boiling a large copper kettle. The shelves were littered with random things – like teacups and candle stubs.

"Well, at least we'll be warm in winter," Amara whispered to Dean, who stifled a laugh.

"What about summer, though?" he whispered back, and Amara shuddered.

"Welcome," said a misty voice, making Amara jump. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."

Professor Trelawney, once in their line of sight, was a thin woman, with huge glasses and lots of shawls

"Sit, my children, sit," she said and Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat themselves in armchairs and pouffes around a table.

"Welcome to Divination," the woman continued. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my inner eye."

Amara raised her eyebrows slightly, which might have looked strange, for Ron shoved his fist in his mouth when he saw her.

"So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so fair in this field.

Amara glanced at Hermione, who looked rather shocked (and oddly hurt) that books wouldn't hold the answers.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are you unable to penetrate the veiled of mysteries of the future." Amara hoped that Fred and George had not taken this subject. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy." She pointed at Neville, who cowered slightly. "is your grandmother well?"

"I think so," said Neville.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," said Professor Trelawney. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, dear," she shot at Parvati. "Beware a red-haired man."

Parvati took a glance at Ron and shifted away. Amara snorted, that could have been deciphered as a scoff.

"In the summer term we shall progress to the crystal ball – if we have finished with fire-omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And one around Easter and one at the end of term, two of our number will leave us forever."

Amara exchanged glances with Hermione, who was still looking rather put-out.

"I wonder dear," Trelawney carried on, talking to Lavender Brown, who was closest. "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"

Lavender fetched the enormous teapot from the shelf and handed it to Professor Trelawney.

"Thank you, dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading – it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October."

Lavender looked terrified.

"Now I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink; drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside-down on its saucer; wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of _Unfogging the Future. _I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear –" she caught Neville as he was standing up. "After you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."

As Neville reached the shelf, there was a tinkle of breaking china as the pink china cup fell to the floor. Professor Trelawney swept over with a dustbin.

Amara fetched a blue cup (she liked the pattern) and got it filled with tea. She saw Ron and Harry trying to drink it quickly, but her partner, who was Hermione, was reading the book, not drinking her scalding tea yet. Once Amara and Hermione had finished their drinks, they swapped cups.

"OK," said Amara. "You've got some sort of – what the hell is that? It looks like a – a _llama. _Hmm, well, that doesn't seem to be on these pages – maybe it's a kangaroo? Ooh, that means '_a journey'. _And that's a carpet type thingy – that means '_true friends'. _Aw, that's sweet. Wait, it might be a castle … '_expands your horizons'. _And that looks like a basket, see? That means '_new baby', _which is really worrying, so Hermione – don't do anything stupid OK?"

By the end of Hermione's cup, the two girls were giggling a lot. Professor Trelawney seemed to think it was Harry and Ron, for she snatched Harry's cup off of him.

"The falcon … my dear, you have a deadly enemy."

"But everyone knows _that,_" Hermione said in an obvious whisper.

"Well they do," Hermione continued, when Trelawney looked at her. "Everyone knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."

Amara gaped at Hermione. She had never spoken to a teacher like that before. Trelawney moved on swiftly

"The club … an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup …"

"I thought that was a bowler hat," Ron said.

"The skull … danger in your path, my dear …"

Then, Professor Trelawney screamed and Neville jumped so much he dropped his cup.

"My dear boy – my dear boy – no – it is kinder not to say – no – don't ask me …"

"What is it, Professor?" Dean asked. Everyone crowded around their table, trying to look into Harry's cup.

"My dear," said Professor Trelawney, her owl-eyes huge. "You have the Grim."

"The what?"

Amara had no idea what she was talking about – she glanced at Harry and shrugged with Dean, who didn't know either. Lavender also looked slightly puzzled, but the rest of the class gasped in horror.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Trelawney. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen – the worst omen – of _death."_

Amara found this all very stupid. A _dog, _being the omen of _death? _She rolled her eyes.

"_I _don't think it looks like the Grim," said Hermione.

"How is a dog an omen of death?" piped up Amara.

Professor Trelawney ignored her and answered Hermione instead.

"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

"It looks like the Grim if you do this," he said, tilting his head and nearly shutting his eyes. "but it looks more like a donkey from here."

"_I _think it looks like a horse," said Amara, making Seamus and Dean snort.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" Harry said and Amara saw that nobody made eye contact with him.

"I think we'll leave the lesson here for today," Professor Trelawney said. "Yes … please pack away your things …"

Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione all left the classroom together and then went off to Transfiguration. Eventhough they had been early, the time it took for them to reach it made them only just in time.

They all sat at the back of the class because everyone was glancing nervously back at Harry, as though he was somehow going to die in Transfiguration.

Amara, bored of the hype of 'the Grim', seemed to be the only one listening to McGonagall's lecture on Animagi. Amara loved the idea of becoming an animal at will. However, she was the only one who clapped when McGonagall changed into a Tabby cat and back. She stopped relatively quickly, blushing hard for the entire class stared at her.

"Thank you Miss Matthews," McGonagall said. "It seems you are the only one truly with us – really, what has got into you today? Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from the _entire _class."

"We had our first Divination lesson today," Amara explained.

"Ah, were you ready tea leaves, per chance?"

The class nodded.

"There is no need to say any more, Miss Matthews," said Professor McGonagall. "Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

"Me," said Harry, after a while.

"I see," said the Professor. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues …. Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience for it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney …" she paused. "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Amara and Hermione laughed.

"What about Neville's cup?" whispered Lavender.

"Please," Amara scoffed to Hermione. "She _told _him beforehand – so he was scared of breaking it, so he obviously did in the end." Ron still looked anxious though, and Amara rolled her eyes at him.

Amara quite happily went into the Great Hall for lunch, and attacked her stew with gusto.

"Ron, cheer up," Hermione said. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said."

"Harry, you _haven't _seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah I have," said harry. "I saw one the night I left the Dursley's."

Ron dropped his fork.

"Probably a stray."

"Hermione, if Harry's seen the Grim that's – that's bad," Ron said. "My – my uncle Bilius saw one and – and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Oh come _on," _Amara said. "You can't blame a _dog _for someone dying – it happens all the time!"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Amara!" Ron said angrily. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are then," Hermione said. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to think to see one and think, right, well, I'd better pop my clogs then!"

Amara snorted into her lunch as Ron looked wordlessly at Hermione.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said as she got her Arithmancy book out. "A lot of guesswork if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!"

"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep."

"Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being rubbish at something for a change!"

Hermione slammed her book shut and bits of stew flew everywhere.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared to my Arithmancy class!"

She stalked away.

Amara looked forlornly at her half-eaten stew and glared at Ron.

"Well done, Ron," she snapped. "Way to get a nerve."

She picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder and hurried out of the Hall. As she was only seconds after Hermione, she expected her to be hurrying up the marble staircase, but when she went through, Hermione was nowhere to be found.

"Amara!"

She turned and saw Ethan hurrying towards her, with three friends in tow. Two were Eddie and Piper, but the other she didn't know.

"Hi, Ethan, how's your day been?"

"Excellent," grinned Ethan. "We had Charms and Potions – and we're with Ravenclaw for Charms!"

"Awesome – did you like both of them?"

"Yeah, I do like Potions, but Professor Snape is not the nicest," Ethan said. "This is Felicity –"

"Ethan!"

"I mean, _Flick _Cartright – she's in Ravenclaw with Piper," Ethan said, pointing to the other girl who was with them. She was cute, with her strawberry blonde hair tied in plaits and a flower in her hair.

"Hiya," she grinned at Amara. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," grinned Amara. "Listen – Ethan, you haven't seen Hermione have you?"

Ethan shook his head. "I saw her coming out, but she disappeared soon after. We're going in for lunch."

Amara nodded, frowning. "OK, thanks, though."

The little group of four hurried off and Amara smiled. She was glad that Ethan had found a group of friends like Amara had.

They had Care of Magical Creature after lunch, so they were able to outside, and Amara was glad, because the rain had cleared off from the night before and had been replaced with clear, pale grey clouds.

Hermione had turned up and the four of them headed down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut. Ron and Hermione were stubbornly refusing to speak to one another, which Amara was very irritated about, so _she _ignored them as well, and only spoke to Harry on their journey down.

When they had reached Hagrid's hut, they saw three familiar heads talking next to it. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all laughing horribly about something.

"C'mon, now, get a move on" Hagrid called, with Fang at his heels. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

Hagrid strolled around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with the class trailing curiously behind them. Fed up of Ron and Hermione's behaviour, and annoyed with the fact Harry wasn't doing anything, Amara sped up to talk to Dean, Seamus and Neville instead.

"Everyone gather round the fence here!" he called. "That's it – make sure yeh can see. Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books –"

"How?" said Draco Malfoy.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy said again. He showed his _The Monster Book of Monsters _which had a length of rope wrapped around it. Everyone got theirs out too – some people had shoved them in tight bags, some were wrapped in belts and a few (like Dean's) were clamped with bullclips.

"Hasn' – hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" Hagrid said. Everyone shook their heads. "Yeh've got ter _stroke _'em," he continued. "Look …"

He grabbed Amara's book and ripped the Spellotape and the extra that Amara had put on before running his finger down its spine. The book shuddered, then lay open.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered. "We should of _stroked _them! Why didn't we guess!"

Amara hated to say it, but Malfoy _was _right.

"I … I thought they were funny," Hagrid said to her. Amara put on an apologetic expression on her face.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" Malfoy said. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip out hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry.

"Righ' then," said Hagrid, and Amara immediately had her heart go out to him. It was his first lesson and Malfoy was messing it up. "so … so yeh've got yer books an' … an' … now yeh need the magical creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on …"

He walked off into the forest.

"God, this place has gone to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him –"

"Why don't you drop this subject, then?" Amara snapped, just as loudly. "It'll do everyone a favour!"

"Oooooooh!" Lavender Brown squealed, making a furious looking Malfoy unable to make a snide comment back.

Trotting their way towards them were about a dozen, strange looking creatures that Amara had never seen before. They were half-horse, with their hind legs, bodies and tail, and half-eagle, with their front legs, wings and head. They looked menacing with their orange eyes and huge beaks. They were all chained together and Hagrid was marching behind them, holding the other end.

"Gee up, there!" he bellowed, and Amara did an involuntarily (but rather voluntarily at the same time) step back. "Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

Amara was not at all sure – from her height (which wasn't far off the ground) made the Hippogriffs seem very big indeed.

"So," said Hagrid, beaming. "If yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer …"

Harry, Ron and Hermione all crept to the fence cautiously, Amara following as well.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is they're proud," Hagrid said. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

Amara listened to Hagrid's words, still uneasy with the huge animals. She was starting to warm up to them, however, because they didn't seem to be as harmful (yet).

"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move, it's polite, see? Yeah walk towards him, and yeah bow, an' yeah wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. Right – who wants ter go first?"

Amara decided that there was a limit with the Hippogriffs – she was glad that the others also felt the same, because Hermione was looking rather panicked.

"No one?" Hagrid said and it nearly made Amara give in.

"I'll do it," said Harry.

"Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!" Lavender and Parvati said.

Harry climbed over the fence of the paddock.

"Good man, Harry!" Hagrid beamed. "Right then – let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

Amara watched in interest as a grey hippogriff was untied and trotted near Harry.

Hagrid was talking Harry through what to do, and he seemed to bow, rather jerkily, downwards and back up again. Buckbeak the Hippogriff stared at him.

"Ah," said Hagrid. "Right – back away, now, Harry, easy does it …"

But then, Buckbeak the Hippogriff sunk to his scaly knees and spread his wings in an obvious bow.

"Well done, Harry!" Hagrid said. "Right – yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Harry moved up to the Hippogriff and patted its beak. Amara clapped along with the rest of them, feeling desperately relieved that Harry did not get trampled on by the Hippogriff.

"Righ' then, Harry," Hagrid continued. "I reckon he migh' et yeh ride him!"

Harry looked rather panicked by this, and Amara's eyes went wide when Harry put his foot on Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto the back of it. Hagrid slapped its hind-quarters and the creature launched itself into the air.

Buckbeak flew around the paddock once before heading back towards the ground again.

The rest of the class, minus Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle cheered loudly at Harry's achievement.

"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "OK, who else wants to go?"

Amara climbed over the fence with the rest of the Care of Magical Creatures class. Amara, Ron and Hermione got a chestnut one, and as Ron and Hermione seemed hesitant to go first, Amara volunteered. She bowed low for her Hippogriff and it replied, letting her go pat its beak. It even nuzzled into her hand. She was about to let Hermione have a go when a high-pitched scream. Amara jumped and saw Hagrid struggling with Buckbeak and Malfoy covered in blood. Amara gasped as Hermione went and opened the gate.

The whole class was panicking as Hagrid ran away up to the castle, dripping blood all the way.

"They should sack him straight away!" shrieked Pansy Parkinson.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" Dean said.

They all reached the Entrance Hall and Pansy hurried off to see Malfoy, whilst the others went down to their common room.

"D'you think he'll be all right?" said Hermione.

"'Course he will, Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said Harry as they walked up to Gryffindor Tower.

"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Ron. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up …"

They had a rather subdued afternoon up in Gryffindor Tower, trying to finished the Transfiguration Essay Professor McGonagall had set. Amara normally whizzed through the work, but she was too worried about Hagrid – even Fred and George's jokes didn't cheer her up.

They entered the Great Hall for dinner early, but Hagrid did not show.

"They _wouldn't _sack him, would they?" Hermione said.

"No," Amara said, trying to reassure herself. "I mean, it _was _Malfoy's fault."

"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron, finally eating something.

Once they went back up to the common room, they once again tried to write the essay, but failed miserably.

"There's a light on in Hagrid's window," said Harry.

"We could get there," said Amara, looking at her watch.

"If we hurried," Ron continued. "It's still quite early."

"I don't know," said Hermione slowly.

"I'm allowed to walk across the _grounds," _Harry said. "Sirius Black hasn't got past the Dementors here, has he?"

They all hurried out of the common room and into the school beyond, hoping not to meet anyone, for they were unsure if they were breaking the rules.

"C'min," came the voice from inside Hagrid's hut, after they'd knocked.

Hagrid had been drinking far too much when they went into the cabin – his tankard was as big as a bucket, and Amara knew that if she or anyone else tried to drink that, then they'd be very plastered indeed.

"'Spect it's a record," Hagrid said thickly, once seeing them clearly. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who on'y lasted a day before."

"They haven't _sacked _you, have they?" Amara exclaimed.

"Not yet," said Hagrid, taking a large gulp of the bucket. "But 's only a matter o' time, i'n't it, after Malfoy …"

"How is he? It wasn't serious, was it?"

"Madam Pomfrey fixed him up as best she could, but he's sayin' it's still agony … covered in bandages … moanin' …"

"He's faking it," said Harry at once. "Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth."

"School gov'nors have bin told o'course," said Hagrid. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later … done Flobberworms or summat … jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson … 's all my fault …"

"It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" Hermione sai.

"We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said Hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up."

Hagrid grabbed Harry and Ron into a rib-breaking hug.

"I think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," said Hermione, taking the tankard and taking it outside.

"Ar, maybe she's right," Hagrid followed he outside, and there was a loud splash.

"What's he done?" said Harry as Hermione came back in.

"Stuck his head in the water barrel," said Hermione.

Hagrid's long hair and beard was sopping wet, plastered to his face.

"Tha' better," he said. "Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really –"

He stopped.

"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" he roared, so loudly and suddenly, they all jumped a foot in the air. "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN' YOU THREE! LETTIN' HIM!"

He grabbed Harry's arm painfully.

"C'mon!" he said angrily. "I'm takin' yer all back up ter the school, an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again. I'm not worth that!"


	6. The Boggart in the Wardrobe

**_A/N Not going to lie - this was a real struggle to write, I don't know why, it just seemed to take AGES. Anyways - I've done it! But I might not be able to do anything for about a week - I have my speaking exam that i have to memorise - I seriously don't know WHY, because I'm never going to go to France and tell them if I follow Fashion or not ... anyways, hope you like it ^.^_**

**_Chapter Six_**

**_The Boggart in the Wardrobe_**

A few days after, Amara and Hermione were able to have their first ever Ancient Runes lesson. Amara's timetable had been sorted by Professor McGonagall so that she had less Divination lessons so that she was able to take the class. Ron and Harry seemed jealous at this, for they had to carry on doing to full amount. Amara had been sorely tempted to drop Divination as a subject, but refrained herself, as they had only had one lesson and she did not want to drop a class just because she didn't like the teacher.

Their Ancient Runes class was very small, Amara had found, once arriving with Hermione in tow. There were only about sixteen people there.

"I heard it's a hard subject," Hermione explained.

"Excellent," muttered Amara. From what she saw, there was only Sophie Roper from Gryffindor there, but there were six Ravenclaws ("Figures," Amara said to herself.) Amara also saw three Hufflepuffs and four Slytherins.

The classroom itself, upon entering (the teacher had yet to turn up.) was one of the smaller ones.

"I think there's other classrooms for it, for different things," Hermione whispered.

The room seemed to be a perfect square, with desks facing the teacher's desk at the front, opposite the door, and there was a large blackboard propped up from the ground. There was also a storage cupboard with a large padlock on.

Professor Babbling came through the door in a frenzy of crimson robes, enormous hair and some parchment. Hannah Abbott immediately went and helped her pick things up.

"Thank you, thank you," the Professor said breathlessly. "Now, I've got you all in alphabetical order, so that I remember your names."

There were slight groans from the class, especially the Slytherins, which luckily did not involve Malfoy, but Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Theodore Nott and a small girl called Lily Moon.

After a few tables, Hermione was placed next to Anthony Goldstein. The Professor assigned Amara a seat, which was in the middle row in the middle, with Hermione along and up one.

She walked to her table, which already had her table partner on, a boy called Roger Malone.

"Hello," Amara said to Roger Malone. He was of average height (taller than Amara) with blonde hair that fell into his olive green eyes. He was cute, in Amara's opinion, but she had never spoken to him before. He was in Ravenclaw and from what Amara had seen, was quite shy and hung around with Oliver Rivers, who was sat next to Padma Patil. Oliver Rivers was a rather geeky, scrawny looking boy with thick glasses, and Padma did not look as though she was enjoying herself, in fact, she was throwing glances at the boy in front of her, in Hufflepuff, without him noticing (Amara doubted he would, he looked rather clueless, for his table partner, Daphne Greengrass, was looking disgusted with having to share her spot with a Hufflepuff muggle-born).

"Hi," stammered Roger, looking startled. Amara refrained herself from cracking up (the mental image of Fred and George laughing and pointing was firmly pushed from her mind).

"I'm Amara Matthews," she said instead. "From Gryffindor."

"Oh," said Roger Malone. "I already know that."

"You do?" Amara asked, dropping into a seat. "I didn't think I'd talked to you before."

"You haven't," said Roger, a faint blush appearing on his pale face.

Amara looked at him.

"Anyway," she said. "As we're going to be table partners, we might as well get to know each other?"

Before she could continue, Professor Babbling ordered silence and the small class became quiet.

"Welcome to Ancient Runes …" she beamed. "This year, we shall be focusing on the simple runes that are easier to decipher – but in a few years, we will be focusing on much harder, difficult stuff. Also, within this class, you will be given projects within the lesson to do – normally you will have to translate a passage and produce an essay of what it means and how you solved it. There is not much practical work in Ancient Runes, for it is _reading _the runes, and not making spells to attack each other with."

Then she wrote down all the numbers in runes on the board and made them copy them down. Amara saw that the whole time, Roger kept glancing up at her, thinking she hadn't noticed.

-OOOOO-

Malfoy did not 'recover' from his injury until late Thursday morning, when the Gryffindors and Slytherins were cooped up in Potions together. Malfoy came swaggering in, his arm in a sling, with a proud little smirk on his face.

"How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy-the-pug from the other side of the classroom. Amara wondered why on earth it had been let into the classroom, but considering the pug was a Slytherin, it seemed to be aloud. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," said Malfoy to Pansy-the-pug, but gave Crabbe and Goyle a wink.

"Settle down, settle down," called Snape. Amara scowled at how lazily he said it - if any Gryffindor had walked in late, they would have detention for a month before you could say 'sorry'.

Today they were making Shrinking Solution, which Amara was trying he hardest at. She wasn't awful at potions like Neville was, but she wasn't as good as Hermione. She was in the nice comfy middle, where Snape could not sneer at her. Malfoy set up his cauldron next to Harry and Ron, and Amara was very glad that she had not sat at their table today.

"Sir," Malfoy called. "Sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm."

"Weasley," Amara heard Snape reply. "Cut up Malfoy's roots for him."

Amara turned and started cutting her own daisy roots in even pieces, tuning Malfoy's drawl out so that she could concentrate. Next to her, Hermione was zooming ahead, whilst Neville was sweating and stirring his potion, which was not what it should look like.

"Hey, Amara," said Seamus as he borrowed a crystal phial from Amara. "Did you read the Daily Prophet this morning?"

"No, I missed it," said Amara, who had been running late that morning and had only had time to grab some toast and sprint up to Divination. "Why?"

"Oh, they reckon Sirius Black has been sighted!"

"Really?" Amara said, forgetting her potion for a second. "Where?"

"Not too far from here," said Seamus. "A muggle saw him - rang the hotline and everything, but he'd gone by the time the Ministry arrived."

"Not too far from here?" Amara repeated, thinking of Harry.

Seamus nodded and was about to reply but Snape swept over to their table to bully Neville. Neville's potion had turned orange somehow, not the green that Hermione's and Amara's was.

"Orange, Longbottom," said Snape. "Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville looked as though he was about to cry. The whole class had stopped to watch by now, and the Slytherins were all smirking.

"Please, sir," said Hermione. "Please, I could help Neville put it right -"

"I don't remember asking you to show off Miss Granger," said Snape, making Hermione go pink. "Longbottom, at the end if this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to you toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

With that, Snape stepped away from them, going over to Dean's table.

"Help me!" Neville moaned to Hermione. She started to give him instructions out the corner of her mouth. Amara finished her potion and packed her things away and washed her stuff up in the stone basin.

The end of the lesson came along and the time for Trevor to be fed Neville's potion.

"Gather round," Snape said. "And watch what happens Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole/ If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."

Amara gulped as she watched Snape pick up Trevor and dolloped a small amount of the green potion on a tiny spoon. He fed it down Trevor's throat and the whole class waited. _Pop. _Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm. Amara clapped hard, grinning at Snape's sour face as he turned Trevor the tadpole back into a fully grown toad.

"Five points from Gryffindor," he said, which wiped the smirk off Amara's face instantly. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

Amara, Harry, Ron and Hermione left the potions classroom together, all furious with Snape.

"Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was right! Why didn't you lie Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"

Amara turned to see what Hermione thought, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Where is she?" Amara said. "She was with us!"

"There she is," said Harry after a minute or so. Hermione was running up the stairs, bag in one hand, her other hand putting something down her robes. Amara frowned. Hermione seemed to be disappearing and reappearing a lot lately.

"Where'd you go?" Amara demanded.

"What?"

"Why were you suddenly at the bottom of the stairs, when you were right behind us a minute ago?"

"What?" Hermione looked confused. "Oh – I had to go back for something – oh no …"

Hermione's bag had split, which was not at all a surprise, considering it was crammed full of large textbooks.

"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Ron asked.

"Ron, Harry, you two can go on," Amara interrupted. "I'll help Hermione with her books."

Ron and Harry glanced at her before deciding not to argue, and disappeared into the Great Hall.

Hermione, it seemed, was about to follow them, but Amara grabbed her.

"What is going on?" she demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, in faux confusion.

"You keep disappearing everywhere – you're carrying _way _to many books _and _Ron was right about your schedule – how are you getting to all of them? Divination is the same time as Ancient Runes sometimes, and Ron and Harry say that you're always in that class, but _I _know that you're in Ancient Runes! You haven't got some sort of clone doing it for you, are you?" Amara said.

Hermione did not meet Amara's eyes, instead, she focused them on the hourglasses behind her, keeping track of the points.

"_Hermione!" _

"I can't tell you!" Hermione said. "I promised!"

Amara stiffened. "I thought we told each other everything."

"Yes, but – but this is different!"

"How different? It's worrying me, Hermione! You're taking loads of extra classes and you obviously can't have _all _of them! You must've got something helping you!"

"I promised Professor McGonagall, though," Hermione said desperately.

Amara scowled. "I didn't realise schoolwork was more important than worried friends."

"Amara –"

"Save it! Until you can tell me, that is."

With that, Amara wheeled around and stomped off into the Great Hall for lunch, deciding to sit with Ethan and Eddie, because she could not face Harry and Ron's questions. Amara noted that Hermione did not make it to lunch.

"How are you classes then?" asked Amara to the two first-year boys.

"Wicked," said Eddie, who Amara liked and reminded her of Fred and George. "I like Defence Against the Dark Arts best, Professor Lupin's awesome."

"I have my first lesson today," Amara grinned. "I can't wait – what about you E?"

"I like Potions," said Ethan. "And Astronomy."

Amara nodded, but did not comment, for she did not like these subjects much.

"Flick loves Charms and Piper loves transfiguration – McGonagall has a definite soft spot for her, she could get away with _murder," _Ethan carried on, munching on his pie.

Amara laughed. "They're my favourites too. Are you starting your flying lessons soon?"

"We're starting on Monday," said Eddie, immediately looking excited. "I can't wait – don't you think Ethan would be a good Beater? Flick agrees with me."

Amara nodded. "I suppose, you'd probably need to get a bit bigger, first," she grinned. "Fred and George are our beaters, though, and they're amazing, they could give you tips. Eddie, what position d'you like?"

"I'm not sure," Eddie mused. "I'd prefer to commentate, or just have a fun game. Not really into proper professional Quidditch."

The rest of the meal past in constant chatter, which Amara found rather exhausting.

-OOOOO-

Amara decided to go back to Harry, Ron and Hermione in their Defence lesson. Hermione seemed upset, so she decided to forgive her. Ron and Harry knew it was wise not to say anything, so instead, whilst they waited for Professor Lupin to arrive, they talked about Ethan's love for Potions.

"You don't want him turning into another Professor Snape," Ron said wisely. "It won't do the world any good."

"Imagine if he was put in Slytherin," Amara said. "Snape would favour him so badly."

Professor Lupin finally arrived, smiling around the class.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's lesson will be a practical lesson. You will only need your wands."

Amara immediately began to feel very excited – they'd never had a practical lesson before.

"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "If you'd follow me."

They all trooped after the teacher curiously. The corridors were deserted until they found one where Peeves was shoving some chewing-gum in the nearest keyhole.

"Loony, loopy, Lupin," he broke out into song. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin –"

Amara was surprised at how rude Peeves was at a teacher. Teachers like Professor McGonagall received respect from Peeves, but not this. Professor Lupin, however, smiled.

"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole, if I were you, Peeves," he said. "Mr Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."

Peeves merely blew a loud and wet raspberry. Professor Lupin got out his wand.

"This is a useful little spell," he said. "Please watch closely."

"_Waddiwasi!" _he said, lifting his arm above his shoulder and aiming at Peeves.

The chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight up Peeves' nostril, making him fly away, cursing.

"Cool, sir!" said Dean.

"Thank you Dean," said Professor Lupin. "Shall we proceed?"

They then made their way to the staff room, where Lupin instructed them to get inside.

Amara had been in the staff room once before – hiding in the wardrobe and listening to the news about Ginny being taken into the Chamber of Secrets. It was empty except for Snape, who got up and swept to the door. "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Amara scowled at Snape, her mouth set. She hated Snape completely – it was unfair that he bullied Neville the entire time.

Professor Lupin raised his eyebrows.

"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said. "And I am sure he will perform it admirably."

Snape left, his lip curling.

"Now then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning them over to the wardrobe that Amara had been in for half an hour at one time. It gave a nasty lurch and Amara jumped back.

"Nothing to worry about," he carried on. "That's a Boggart in there."

Amara had no idea what a Boggart was – but some people did, and were giving the wardrobe a wary glance.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks – I once met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. _This _one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the Headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third-years some practice.  
So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what _is _a Boggart?"

Hermione, predictably, raised her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

Amara did not like the sound of a Boggart anymore. "Couldn't have put it better myself," Lupin said. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when it's alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.  
This means, that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

"Er – because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"

"Precisely," said Professor Lupin. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with Boggarts. He becomes confused. Whish should he become? A headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake – tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.  
The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet It requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finished a Boggart is _laughter. _What you need to do is force it to assume a shape you find amusing. We will practise the charm without out wands first. After me please … _riddikulus!"_

"Riddikulus!" chanted the class.

"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."

Neville walked forwards as though he was in death row.

"Right Neville," said Professor Lupin. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"

Neville made no noise.

"Didn't catch that Neville, sorry," said Lupin.

"Professor Snape," Neville whispered extremely quietly.

Everyone laughed, even Neville grinned somewhat.

"Professor Snape ... hmmm ... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Er - yes," said Neville. "But - I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either."

"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin. "I wonder, could you tell is what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

"Well ... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress ... green, normally ... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."

"And a handbag?"

"A big red one."

"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"

"Yes," said Neville nervously.

"When the Boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume he form of Professor Snape. And you will raise your wand - thus - and cry 'Riddikulus' - and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, that green dress and that big red handbag."

Everyone laughed again.

"If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to turn its attention to each of us in turn," Professor Lupin said. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you the most and imagine how you might force it to look comical ..."

Amara thought about what made her heart stop in the world. She thought of a swarm of wasps or a deadly horse but then her mind wandered to last year, down in the Chamber of Secrets, the horrible monster ...

But how to make it funny? She could make it smaller or take away its fangs ...

"Everyone ready?"

Amara nodded and rolled her sleeves up and got her wand out.

"Neville we're going to back away, let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward ... Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot -"

Amara backed away, leaving a trembling Neville by the shaking wardrobe.

"On the count of three Neville," said Professor Lupin. "One - two - three - _now_!"

Professor Lupin unlocked the door with his wand and Professor Snape stepped out of the wardrobe.

Neville looked utterly terrified as he was bearing down at him.

"R-r-riddikulus!"

Snape stumbled as a noise like a whip-crack sounded through the air. He was now dressed in a lace trimmed fess and a lovely (Amara shuddered) vulture-topped hat.

Amara burst into laughter.

"Parvati! Forward!"

There was a _crack_ as a blood-stained mummy took the place if Snape.

"Riddikulus!"

The mummy's bandages got caught up and he fell over.

"Seamus!"

The mummy turned into a woman with floor length black hair and a skeletal green face - a banshee. She shrieked and Amara covered her ears at the horrid noise.

"Riddikulus!"

The banshee clutched her throat - her voice gone.

The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail - _crack_ - it became a rattlesnake.

"Amara!"

Amara walked forward and crack, a Basilisk, smaller, it seemed, so that it could fit the staff room, but no less frightening, was bearing down in her, long fangs in its huge mouth. Its normal bulbous yellow eyes were punctured and blood was dripping out of it and onto the floor.

Everyone screamed and backed away to the sides of the class room. Amara stood frozen in the middle, the terrifying beast coming ever closer Amara screwed up get courage and yelled "_RIDDIKULUS_!"

The basilisk back tracked quickly, smacking its mouth together where the fangs had disappeared.

"_Excellent! _Dean!"

Amara retreated to where Hermione was standing. She felt herself shaking slightly as Hermione gave her a quick hug. She leant against the wall, watching Dean's severed hand Boggart get caught in a mouse trap.

"Ron, you next!"

Ron leapt forwards. _Crack. _A spider, six feet tall and hairy all over was approaching Ron, who had frozen slightly. A few people screamed.

"Riddikulus!" bellowed Ron. The spider's legs vanished and it rolled over and over until it landed at Harry's feet. Professor Lupin hurried forwards and the Boggart changed into a slivery orb hanging in the air.

"Riddikulus!"

The Boggart turned into a cockroach. "Forward, Neville, and finish him off!"

"Riddikulus!" yelled Neville, who was more confident now that he'd done it once. He let out a great 'HA!' and the Boggart exploded.

"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin. "Excellent Neville! Well done, everyone. Let me see … five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart – ten for Neville because he did it twice – and five each to Hermione and Harry."

Amara grinned with the rest of the class as they began discussing the events.

"Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on Boggarts and summarise it for me … to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."

Amara and the rest of the class went out of the classroom, eagerly talking about their Boggarts.

"Did you see me take that banshee?"

"And the hand!"

"Amara's Boggart was terrifying!"

"And Snape was hilarious in that hat!"

"And my mummy!"

"I wonder why Professor Lupin's frightened of crystal balls?" said Lavender.

That struck a thought in Amara's brain – why _was _their new Professor's Boggart something so strange?

"That was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?" said Ron as they walked back to collect their bags.

"He seems a very good teacher," said Hermione. "But I wish I could have had a turn with the Boggart –"

"What would it have been for you?" sniggered Ron. "A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"


	7. Flight of the Fat Lady

**_Thanks for all the reviews so far :)_**

**_Chapter Seven_**

**_Flight of the Fat Lady_**

As time went on, it became clear that Defence Against the Dark Arts was everyone's, except Malfoy's, favourite subject. And Ethan's, who still loved Potions (much to Eddie's disdain, for he hated Potions). Amara also loved her time in Ancient Runes, and found she actually had a real knack for it. Divination was a different story, because she dreaded her time in the stuffy tower classroom, especially when Parvati and Lavender spent their time up there, always coming back to the dormitory with 'news' to share.

Amara had gone to see Professor McGonagall about her decision of trying to stick it out for a year, before hoping to drop it, which she had approved upon, and even given her s small smile, which only lasted half a second. Fred and George, who had been there in detention at the time, had said it was the first time they had ever seen McGonagall smile, which meant that Amara was obviously her favourite.

Her table partner, Roger Malone, was a very shy boy. He seemed to stutter in the sight of Amara, but once he was with his friends, he was at ease and very excitable. Amara had spoken to Anthony, for she was worried that he was scared of her.

"Have I done something to Roger in the past?" she asked him after Ancient Runes one day.

"No," said Anthony, looking rather surprised.

"Then why does he stutter so much when I talk to him? It feels like he's scared of me," Amara frowned.

"Ah," Anthony said. "No … no he's not _scared _of you."

But that was all Amara managed to get out of him, so she stomped off, rather frustrated.

Hermione also kept on disappearing and re-appearing everywhere, and still managed to do three classes at once. Amara was getting more and more angry and confused at why this kept happening, because it would soon take its toll on her. She decided to corner her one day, after a class, so that she wouldn't be able to get out of it.

An opportunity did not happen until the next week. They had just finished Ancient Runes and everyone else had left. Hermione was making a fuss of her bag, so Amara pretended to go out the door, but stopped it before it shut so that she could peak through. Hermione looked around the classroom before fetching a sort of necklace from beneath her robes. On it, Amara saw a sort of hour-glass thing, which Hermione turned once. She then started fading in the air, which Amara gaped at. Before she knew it, Hermione had gone, leaving Amara blinking behind her.

Very very confused, Amara made her way to break, where she met Harry and Ron in the courtyard. What surprised her most was that Hermione was there too, sitting on the floor and reading a book.

"Hermione?" Amara said, shocked.

"What?" Ron said. "Where have you been?"

"What? Oh – it doesn't matter," Amara said. "Hermione, can you come with me for a second?"

"Why?" Hermione asked, closing her book.

"I – erm – I need the _bathroom," _Amara said pointedly.

Ron and Harry awkwardly looked away, making Amara smirk.

"OK," said Hermione, getting up. They walked in silence to the first empty bathroom, where Amara immediately faced her.

"I saw you," she said.

"Saw me?"

"In the Ancient Runes classroom – using that necklace thing,"

"What necklace thing?"

"The thing that made you disappear yet still be at break with Harry and Ron!"

"Ah," said Hermione. "Erm, you saw that?"

"Yes!" Amara said. "I was worried about you!"

"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone – nobody's meant to _know," _Hermione said.

"Well _I _know your little trick, and the library is only one step away if you can't tell me!"

Hermione sighed. "Alright, you see, it's a time-turner."

"A time turner?" asked Amara.

"Yes," said Hermione. "Because I'm taking extra classes, it makes me able to go back in time and do the lessons all over again – you see?"

"Wow," said Amara. "So that's why you were in the Ancient Runes class and the courtyard in a matter of minutes. And that's why you are in Divination and Ancient Runes, when _I _can't even do that."

Hermione nodded. "But you can't tell Harry and Ron."

"Why not?"

"Because Professor McGonagall went to drastic methods so that I could get one, she had to appeal to the Ministry."

Amara nodded, relieved that Hermione had finally told her. She gave her a hug.

"C'mon," she grinned. "We better get going – Ron and Harry will wonder where we went to."

-OOOOO-

Sometime in October, Amara, Hermione and Ron were in the common room and saw that a notice had been pinned up on the notice board.

"Shall we see what it says?" said Ron, dumping his bag on a chair. "Everyone seems excited."

The common room was indeed buzzing with anticipation, so Amara, Hermione and Ron (Harry was at Quidditch practice) went over to read it.

**_HOGSMEADE WEEKEND DATE_**

_SUNDAY 31__st__ OCTOBER _

"Hogsmeade!" Amara squealed excitedly. "Oooh, I can't _wait!"_

Ron grinned. "I can't wait for Honeydukes!"

They were just about to have a hearty discussion with Dean and Seamus, but Hermione prodded them into finishing with the Star charts for Astronomy. Amara found this very dull, for Astronomy was one of her weaker subjects, like History of Magic.

Harry came in an hour later, looking frozen from Quidditch practice The rest of the team followed after him.

"What's happened?"

"First Hogsmeade weekend," Ron answered as Amara tried to sneak a look at Hermione's star chart. "End of October, Hallowe'en."

"Excellent," said Fred, coming over to them. "I need to visit Zonko's, I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets." He wandered off to sit with George and Lee.

Harry flopped into his chair, looking down.

Amara felt bad that she'd been so excited and Harry couldn't even go.

"Don't be sad Harry," she said. "Why don't you ask McGonagall if you can go? I mean, c'mon, it's not like it's a deserted village …"

"Amara! Harry's supposed to stay in school! Black is still at large!" Hermione said.

"He's not going to go to Hogsmeade – Amara's right, it's not going to be empty," Ron said.

"I think I will," said Harry.

Crookshanks jumped onto Amara's lap, much to her disgust, because a large hairy spider was dangling out from his mouth.

"Yuck," she shivered, shoving the cat over to Hermione's lap.

"Amara! Be careful!"

"What? It's cat – they _always _lands on their feet."

"It's not the point!"

"Keep him over there, though," said Ron. "I've got Scabbers in my bag."

Amara carried on with her star chart, her and Harry copying Ron's already finished copy. Hermione looked at her in disapproval, but Amara shrugged at her, still seeing if she could check Hermione's answers.

Crookshanks suddenly jumped at Ron, sinking his claws on his bag.

"OY!" Ron bellowed. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

"Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione squealed. The whole common room was silent, watching the events unfold.

Ron started to swing his bag around, with a spitting Crookshanks still clinging on.

"Watch out!" yelped Amara as the cat missed her head barely.

Scabbers suddenly came flying out of the bag – flying over Amara's head and landing on the floor.

"CATCH THAT CAT!"

George dived for Crookshanks as he chased the terrified rat. Amara ran after Ron, who was chasing after Crookshanks. Scabbers went under a chest of drawers. Amara pushed Crookshanks into Hermione's arms as Ron started to get Scabbers back.

"Look at him!" he said furiously, once retrieving him. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" said Hermione. "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal!" Ron said. "It head me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh, what rubbish," said Hermione. "Crookshanks could _smell _him, Ron, how else d'you think –"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" said Ron, ignoring the occupants of the common room that were starting to giggle. Amara caught Fred's eye and bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. "And Scabbers was here first, _and _he's ill!"

Ron stormed off to the dormitories, Hermione going up the girls' stairs and leaving Amara and Harry to finish their star charts from their discarded charts on the table.

-OOOOO-

Ron's mood with Hermione had not stopped the next day. Amara was growing very weary of his attitude, because it meant that Hermione was now scared that he was going to lash out at her.

"How's Scabbers?" she asked in Herbology, where they were working on the same Puffapod.

"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking," Ron said angrily, spilling the pink beans from the pods on the floor, making the bloom in front of their eyes.

Luckily, it was Transfiguration next, so Amara got to enjoy it. Before they had entered the classroom, however, there was a group outside, with Lavender crying in the middle. Parvati was explaining something to Dean and Seamus.

"What's up Lavender?" asked Amara as they joined them.

"She got a letter this morning," said Parvati. "It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox."

"Oh no," said Amara. "I'm very sorry Lavender."

"I should of known!" cried Lavender. "You know what day it is?"

"Erm –"

"The sixteenth of October! '_That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!' _Remember? She was right, she was right!"

She burst into another wave of tears, Amara was actually feeling quite sorry for the girl – she had had a rabbit once, and would have hated it if it had been killed.

Hermione, however, was thinking it through. "You – you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?"

"Well, not necessarily by a _fox," _said Lavender, sniffing. "but I was _obviously _dreading him dying, wasn't I?"

"Oh," said Hermione, pausing. "Was Binky an _old _rabbit?"

"N-no!" sobbed Lavender. "H-he was only a baby!"

"But then why would you dread him dying?" said Hermione.

"_Hermione!" _Amara said incredulously. Hermione was not seeing Lavender's emotions – in fact, Amara noted – she was just going through everything logically. She frowned at her.

"What? Look at it logically," Hermione said to Amara. "I mean," she turned to rest. "Binky didn't even die today, did he, Lavender just got the news today, and she _can't _have been dreading it, because it's come as a real shock –"

"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender," said Ron loudly. "She doesn't think other people's pets matter very much."

Professor McGonagall opened the door and Amara scurried inside, deciding to get inside quick before Ron and Hermione starting trying to kill each other.

Harry was going to ask Professor McGonagall at the end about going to Hogsmeade.

"One moment, please!" she said at the end. "As you're all in my house, you should hand in Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Hallowe'en. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!"

Neville had some trouble with his form, but Amara wasn't listening as she made her way out of the door and into the Great Hall for lunch, because she was extremely hungry.

"D'you think McGonagall will let him?" asked Amara as they sat down next to Fred and George.

"Who?" asked Fred as they sat down.

"You're nosy," said Amara, grinning.

"All part of the charm," said Fred, giving her a wink, which made Ron clear his throat and George snort into his lunch.

"Harry," Amara carried on. "He's asking McGonagall for permission to Hogsmeade."

"Ah," said George. "I don't know if McGonagall will let him off – remember when Geraldine Foster left hers at home, Fred? She wasn't allowed to go – had to wait for it to be sent to her in the post."

"Yes," said Fred. "But Harry might be able to, who knows?"

-OOOOO-

They found out later that Harry had been unsuccessful, meaning Ron spouted out words to insult McGonagall that made Hermione irritated. This made them angry with each other again, which made Amara, in turn, annoyed as well. Everyone suggested ways of helping him to get into Hogsmeade, but none would work. Dean even suggested he could forge Harry's Uncle's signature, which Amara thought was a good idea, however McGonagall would see straight through it, because of her knowing that Harry had not got any permission. Ron and Amara had suggested Harry using the Invisibility Cloak and get through Filch, but Hermione irritated them all by telling them about the Dementors standing guard at the gates. Amara had forgotten about the Dementors, and Ron had too, because he did not suggest it again.

"I can't wait for us to be able to go to Hogsmeade," Eddie had said when Amara told them of Harry still not being able to go.

"I don't know much about it," admitted Flick, who was sat with them in the library whilst Piper was serving detention (she had 'accidently' put the wrong ingredient in her potion).

"Me neither," said Ethan. "Piper said that it's amazing."

"It is," said Eddie. "Jordan told us all about it when he went last year – he even managed to get us a pepper imp, you know, but that's only because he didn't like them."

"Pepper Imps?" asked Flick. "They sound gross to me."

"They were, kind of, but they were awesome because we breathed fire for ages," Eddie said, laughing.

"You breathed _fire?" _Flick said, looking shocked.

"Oh yeah, scared ol' Whiskers into the garden," Eddie said, grinning still.

"Apparently there's a Zonko's Joke Shop," Amara said. "That'll be worth going to."

"I want to go to Honeydukes," said Eddie, looking dreamy.

"You know," laughed Amara. "That's exactly what Ron said – did you know –"

Unluckily, Madam Pince thought they were making far too much noise and consequently kicked them out of the library.

-OOOOO-

The day of the first Hogsmeade trip dawned, bright, but cold. Amara dressed herself in her comfortable jeans, a t-shirt and a big, woolly jumper that was a nice, dark red. She wrapped her Gryffindor scarf around her, in case it was too cold, but decided to put on a jacket. She packed her purse with a little money in it, because she knew it would be easy to spend it all before heading down to the Great Hall with Hermione.

Ron and Harry were already there, and the latter looked thoroughly depressed.

"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," Hermione said, looking sorry for him.

"Yeah, loads," said Ron, having had gotten over his squabble.

"Don't worry about me," said Harry. "I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time."

He went with them to the Entrance Hall, where Filch was checking people off on a long list, looking for people who were trying to get in.

Harry left them there, as Amara, Hermione and Ron joined the fairly long queue.

"We should have gotten Dean to forge his Uncle's signature before asking McGonagall," Amara muttered to Ron, who nodded.

"Names?" snapped Filch.

"Amara Matthews, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley," Amara said quickly, wanting to get into the village.

Finally they were able to take the walk down to the village from Hogwarts. Amara was practically skipping along, which made Ron laugh.

"Excited, there ol' Mattie?" came two voices from their left. They turned to see Fred and George walking along in matching jackets, grinning at her.

"'Mattie'?" asked Amara.

"Hmm, yes, we thought you deserved a nickname, you see," Fred said.

"So Mattie came up," said George.

Amara laughed. "I can't wait to get into the village – what d'you say we should visit first?"

"Zonko's," said Fred and George simultaneously.

Amara and Ron laughed.

"No surprise there, then," said Amara.

"Well, we do like to be predictable – anyways, we're meeting Lee, Angelina and Alicia in the Three Broomsticks – see you later," winked George.

The two twins sauntered off towards the village, whistling tunelessly.

"Where _shall _we go first?" asked Hermione as they finally entered the village. It was beautiful – like one of those villages featured in a fairy tale, with its little thatched cottages and cobbled streets.

"Zonko's?" asked Amara hopefully.

Hermione wrinkled her face.

"Oh c'mon, Hermione! Don't be such a spoilsport!" whined Amara. "We want to go to Zonko's!"

"Yeah, Hermione," Ron said, grinning.

Hermione relented and the three made their way into the very crowded joke shop, where it was very hard to get to any of the shelves, so Ron and Amara left empty-handed and rather put-out.

"What about Dervish and Bangs?" asked Hermione, pointing to another shop.

The three made their way through the village, looking into nearly every shop they saw. Amara liked the Post Office, with its hundreds of owls, and Amara got some treats for Archimedes and Hedwig. Then they went to Scrivencraft's, where Amara bought some new quills and Hermione did as well, because they were both running low. Finally, Ron persuaded them to go into Honeydukes.

The sweetshop was crowded with students, all eagerly buying sweets and chocolates by the handful. The shelves were filled with all kinds of sweets – coconut ice, nougat, toffees, lots of different chocolate in neat little rows, Every Flavour Beans in a large barrel and a scoop; Fizzing Whizzbees, which Amara wanted to try; Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Toothflossing Stringmints, Pepper Imps – like the ones Eddie was on about; Ice Mice, sugar quills, exploding bonbons, blood-flavoured lollipops were among the huge variety of normal flavoured lollipopos, Acid Pops, Cockroach Clusters, Chocolate Frogs – _everything._

Amara, Hermione and Ron went rather mad in the sweetshop, buying everything and anything they could and buying a little extra for Harry when they got back. They left the shop with huge bags and their money bags much less full after the rampage. Hermione loved the Toothflossing stringments – she said her parents would love them, and Amara adored the Fizzing Whizzbees, the chewing gum and the sugar quills.

They decided to go into The Three Broomsticks and get a butterbeer. Ron blushed immediately when he saw the pretty barmaid, who went by the name Madam Rosemerta, so Amara went and got three butterbeers for their table. As soon as she drank it, she warmed up, for the air outside was very chilly.

"Wow, Harry would _love _to have this," said Amara, slurping her drink.

"Yeah, but we got him loads of sweets," said Hermione.

"It's a shame he can't be here, though," Ron said.

"Hopefully McGonagall will let him go –"

"You know she won't," Hermione said. "Black's still out there."

"But it's _Hogsmeade,_" said Amara.

"Anyways," Ron interrupted, in case another argument arose.

"Imagine if we could get our Christmas shopping done here?" Amara said. "We could get Harry stuff from Zonko's and stuff. I think I'd send some to Tessie as well, to make her laugh."

"Or you could get her some sweets," said Hermione.

"Oooh, yeah, some exploding bonbons – I could ask her to give them to Mum and Dad," laughed Amara.

"You're awful, Amara," said Hermione, shaking her head.

They had a very fulfilling afternoon – they ate lunch in The Three Broomsticks and saw what Ron said was an ogre.

"Look at _that," _Ron whispered as a huge, green fellow stomp inside.

"Man, that has to be an ogre," said Amara. "Look over there – is that a hag? And that dude looks like a vampire – is that _blood _he's drinking?"

"Must be," said Ron. "Or else something very red."

"Wonder who's blood it is," said Amara.

"Who knew you got these kind of people in the pub?" Ron said, craning his neck to look at the ogre.

"You know," said Hermione. "We better get going – we still have to walk all the way back up to the castle."

Amara and Ron agreed, so they stomped outside into the chilly air and made their way back up the lane and into the castle's grounds. It was a very long walk this time, because it was mainly uphill, and the three of them got slightly puffed out.

They met up with Harry in the common room when the sun was starting to set.

"They you go, Harry," Amara said, tipping a pile of sweets onto his lap. "We got as many as we could."

"Thanks," said Harry. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"

Amara, Hermione and Ron eagerly explained all the places they had been and he listened, looking amused.

"What did you get up to, then?" asked Amara.

"Did you get any work done?"

"No," said Harry. "Lupin made me a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in and gave him this smoking goblet and he and Lupin talked about him taking more – and then he drank it all!"

"_Lupin drank it?" _Ron asked, gobsmacked. "Is he mad?"

Hermione looked at her watch. "We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes …"

"Why would Lupin drink it?" Amara asked as they went out the portrait hole. "I mean, surely Snape didn't poison Lupin on purpose – everyone would know it were him!"

"I don't know," said Harry as they entered the Great Hall. It was looking spectacular – candle-filled pumpkins were everywhere; live bats were fluttering amongst the students and flaming orange streamers were wiggling around the now stormy ceiling up ahead.

Amara managed to have a second helping of everything – even if she did feel slightly sick afterwards – because the food was delicious. Ron and Hermione ate second helpings too, as well as most of the people on the Hogsmeade trip.

At the end of the feast, the school ghosts put on a little show – Nearly Headless Nick put on a re-enactment of his be-heading.

Amara had enjoyed her day, and as she was walking up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower, she was only thinking about settling down for a nice sleep in her bed. But when they got to the corridor which had the Fat Lady on it, it was crowded with Gryffindor students, all trying to get into the common room.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" asked Ron.

The portrait was not open, though, so more and more people jammed up the corridor.

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice. "What's the hold-up here? You can't all have forgotten the password – excuse me, I'm Head Boy –"

But then, starting at the front and ending at the back like a Mexican wave, silence went through the crowd.

"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

"What's going on?" asked Ginny, who had just arrived.

"We don't know," said Amara. "The Fat Lady isn't opening up."

Professor Dumbledore arrived a moment later, sweeping through the crowds and to the portrait. Amara, Hermione, Ron and Harry all squeezed forwards to see what was happening.

"Oh my god," said Amara, gasping.

The Fat Lady was no longer in her painting – in fact, nothing really remained of it, unless you counted the strips of canvas hanging off and large chunks on the floor below.

Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape arrived at the scene, immediately going to the painting.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" cackled a loud voice from above them.

Amara looked up to see Peeves bobbing up and down, grinning.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" asked Dumbledore.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir," he said in an oily voice. "Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between trees. Crying something dreadful. Poor thing."

"Did she say who did it?"

"Oh yes, Professorhead," said Peeves. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, see." He flipped over and grinned. "Nasty temper, he's got, that Sirius Black."


	8. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff

**_Chapter Eight_**

**_Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff_**

All hopes of having a nice, refreshing sleep were gone in Amara's mind as Professor Dumbledore made all the Gryffindors to go down to the Great Hall and wait. After a few minutes, the rest of the school arrived, all looking confused and many in their pyjamas.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," said Dumbledore. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the Hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbances should be reported to me immediately," he said to Percy, who was looking very proud at that moment. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Before he left the hall he conjured up hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags and made the tables fly to the corners of the room.

"Sleep well."

The hall was a-buzz with conversation immediately after he had left. Amara told other students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff what had happened before Percy managed to get quiet.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" he shouted. "Come on now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

The quartet seized four sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner.

"Do you thing Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," said Ron.

"It's weird that he chose tonight, though," Amara said as the all climbed fully dressed into the comfy sleeping bags. "D'you think it was an accident – I mean, did he not realise that everyone was actually in here?"

"I don't know, probably lost track of time, you know …" Ron said.

The whispers around them were all the same thing: "_How did he get in?"_

"Maybe he knows how to Apparate. Just appear out of thin air, you know."

"Disguised himself, probably."

"He could've flown in," Dean said.

"Honestly, am I the _only _person who's ever bothered to read _Hogwarts: A History?" _said Hermione.

"Probably," said Amara and Ron together. "Why?"

"Because the castle's protected by more than _walls, _you know," Hermione said. "There are all sorts of enchantments on it, to stop people entering by stealth. You can't just Apparate in here. And I'd like to see a disguise that could fool those Dementors. They're guarding every single entrance to the grounds. They'd have seen him fly in, too. And Filch knows all the secret passageways, they'll have them covered …"

"The light are going out now!" Percy said. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

The candles were extinguished so there was only the light from the ghosts and the stars that lit up the Hall. The Hall itself was alive with whispers, everyone too excited to get to sleep. Amara remembered with a jolt about Ethan, so she slyly looked around when Percy wasn't looking and waved at him, Eddie, Flick and Piper, who were jumbled up together.

At every hour, a teacher came in to the Hall to check up on things. Amara had finally managed to doze off at around two o'clock in the morning, her sleep restless and torn with images of Sirius Black whirling around her brain.

-OOOOO-

Harry, Ron and Hermione told her of the conversation they had overheard the night before between Snape, Dumbledore and Percy. Amara had been confused, but couldn't dwell on it – for the entire school was talking about Sirius Black over the course of the next few days. Hannah Abbott told them all about how he could turn himself into a shrub.

The Fat Lady, however, had not been replaced to guard Gryffindor Tower. In fact, in her place was no other than Sir Cadogan, the annoying knight from the deserted corridor. He always changed the passwords and challenged people to duel him every time they wanted to get into the common room.

"He's barking mad," said Seamus angrily to Percy one day. "Can't we get anyone else?"

"None of the other pictures wanted the job," said Percy. "Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only was brave enough to volunteer."

What irritated Amara (and Harry) was that people were constantly tailing him in the corridors, as though Sirius Black was going to burst from an empty classroom and stab him there and then.

As the first Quidditch match came nearer, Amara was displeased to notice that the weather was having a turn for the worse. It seemed that the winter months were ready to come in and the hot weather would soon disappear completely.

Two days before the match, Harry came back to the common room with some news.

"We're not playing Slytherin anymore," said Harry angrily. "We're playing Hufflepuff."

"Why?" asked Amara, looking through Ron's Transfiguration homework whilst Hermione looked on, in a very disapproving manner.

"Because of Malfoy's arm," spat Harry. "And apparently Hufflepuff's tactics are different now, because of their new captain – Cedric Diggory."

Amara and Hermione giggled together. Amara had noticed the Hufflepuff boy since the beginning of the year, because Katie Bell had pointed him out, giggling. He was tall, with nice hair and lovely eyes. All the girls swooned over him, and Amara wasted no time into pointing him out to Hermione in the corridors.

"What are you giggling about?" Ron asked as Harry looked exasperated.

"Cedric Diggory," giggled Amara. "Silent and _handsome."_

Ron and Harry were not at all amused by their giggling, so they went off to bed, leaving a still giggly Hermione and Amara behind them.

-OOOOO-

The weather was even worse the day before the match. The castle needed extra candles and torches so that it was lit up, and the winds managed to slip into the corridors as soon as the doors opened.

Wood kept getting Harry before lessons to give him advice, which was rather tiring, so Amara, Hermione and Ron always left him too it, for fear of being late themselves.

The three of them made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts and were disgusted to find that Professor Snape was talking over the lesson for Professor Lupin.

They got their stuff out of their bags and Snape began to speak.

"Now, Professor Lupin has told me that he is too ill to teach today, so I'm taking the lesson instead." Amara did not like the way he smirked at this.

"Now, Professor –"

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I –"

Harry had come running through the door, ten minutes late, but froze once he saw who it was.

"The lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down."

"Where's Professor Lupin?"

"He says he is feeling too ill to teach today." Snape said and Amara suddenly had a strange thought. Normally, when someone was ill they went to Madam Pomfrey and she sorted them out in a couple of minutes. What was up with Lupin that made him not able to do that? Why was he always looking so ill?

"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far –"

"Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas and Grindylows," Hermione said quickly. "and we're just about to start –"

"Be quiet," said Snape. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organisation."

"He's the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!" said Dean boldly, which caused everyone to agree with him.

"You are easily satisfied," said Snape. "Lupin is hardly over-taxing you – I would expect first-years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. Today we shall discuss –"

He flicked to the back cover.

" – werewolves."

Amara wondered if this was intentional or random on Snape's part.

"But sir," said Hermione, unable to stop herself. Amara put her hand against her forehead in exasperation. "We're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start Hinkypunks –"

"Miss Granger," I was under the impression that I was taking this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page three hundred and ninety-four. _All _of you! _Now!"_

The class did so, with many mutters and annoyed glances, mostly aimed in Snape's direction.

"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" asked Snape.

Everyone except Hermione sat motionless.

"Anyone?" asked Snape. "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between –"

"We told you," said Parvati. "We haven't got as far as werewolves yet, we're still on –"

"_Silence!" _snarled Snape. "Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognise a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are …"

"Please, sir," said Hermione. "The werewolf differs from the true wold in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf –"

"That is the second time you've spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," said Snape. "Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."

Amara's patience, which was already very low because of Snape, completely snapped. Her and Ron started talking loudly at Snape, whilst the rest of the class glared at Snape.

"She knew the answer – you completely _ignored _her!"

"Why ask if you don't want to be told?"

Snape advanced on them, trying to make them cower, but Amara stood her ground and stared him down.

"Detention, Weasley, Miss Matthews," said Snape, looking at Ron instead. "And if I hear either of you criticise the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."

Amara was still itching to start yelling again, but Hermione put a hand on her hand to warn her.

As the rest of the lesson was in silence, Snape's earlier words came back to her. _Who wouldn't even recognise a werewolf when they saw one. _Was Snape trying to tell them something? Was he hinting to them?

When the bell rang, Snape gave them something to be even more annoyed about.

"You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognise and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley, Miss Matthews, stay behind, we need to arrange your detentions."

The rest of the class left, looking murderous.

"Come here," said Snape silkily and Amara and Ron made their way to the desk. "Now, I want you two to scrub the bedpans in the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey. And I think no magic would be sufficient – report there at eight thirty. Be prompt, or I'll make you do it for a week."

Amara and Ron left, fuming. They walked in a stormy silence until they reached Harry and Hermione.

"Do you know what Snape has made us do?" spluttered Amara angrily.

"We have to scrub the bedpans in the hospital wing –"

"_Without magic!" _Amara raged. "He is such a _bastard!"_

"_Amara!" _

"Yeah, Mattie, language like that is not tolerated," came the voice of Fred from behind them. Amara turned to see the twins smirking at her.

"Shut up," she said. "I'm calling Snape one, so it's fine."

"Oh, Snape? I fully understand," nodded George. "Somehow, he got irritated with us for dropping stink pellets in his office the other day …"

-OOOOO-

At eight twenty, Ron and Amara made their way to detention in the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey shoved cleaning products in their hands and pointed to a massive stack of pans on the side of the room. She then went into her office, so Ron and Amara found they could chat quite easily.

It was hard work cleaning the pans, and it made their arms ache. Amara looked around after finishing her tenth pan and was surprised to notice that the hospital wing was empty. She found this odd, for Professor Lupin had been ill that day.

"Ron," frowned Amara. "I thought Lupin would be in here."

Ron looked around too. "Oh yeah," he said. "Maybe he's in his office?"

Amara nodded but carried on scrubbing without answering. Professor Lupin's illness was very mysterious and had missing connections.

Luckily, the work between them only lasted an hour and a half, meaning Amara was still able to go back to the common and catch up with homework. Ron, however, went straight to bed. Hermione was still in the common room so Amara got her books out and decided to start with Snape's essay on werewolves.

_… __Though they can live otherwise normal lives, on every full moon a werewolf will go through an incredibly painful transformation from a human into a wolf-like creature. They lose the ability to think in a human way, becoming highly aggressive towards humans- even those to whom they are close. Though werewolves usually only infect their victims through biting, they sometimes take it too far and kill their victims.  
Before they transform, the werewolves become sickly and pale and weak – generally not able to do much within the day before the transformation. _

_Hadn't Lupin looked pale and sickly yesterday? _Amara thought suddenly. She froze and looked out of the window. As if on cue, the clouds shifted and the very fully moon shined back at her. She paled.

She glanced at Hermione, who was staring at her.

"You've noticed too?" Hermione whispered.

"Is it true?" Amara said. "Is he – is he a _werewolf?"_

Hermione nodded. "Must be – and Snape hates him as well – why else would he do a lesson on werewolves?"

Amara nodded. "He looked so pleased with himself as well," she said. "D'you think anyone else will figure it out?"

"No," said Hermione. "And we can't tell anyone either – what on earth would everyone say? Werewolves are not high up in the wizarding community at all."

In the end, Amara did not do any of her homework – instead, she went up to bed and decided to get a good night's sleep so that she was ready for the Quidditch match the next day.

-OOOOO-

The weather had not gotten better the next day – Saturday dawned with roaring winds and lots of rain.

Amara grabbed her coat and umbrella for the match, and met Hermione and Ron down in the common room. They made their way to the Great Hall, where they sat down next to a very worried Gryffindor Team. They were all rather pale and Oliver Wood wasn't touching anything.

Amara, Ron and Hermione ate their breakfast as the team were silent. As it neared eleven o'clock, the team stood up.

"Good Luck," smiled Amara at them.

"We're going to need it," Fred muttered to her. "Have you _seen _the rain?"

The rain, in fact, was nearing a storm. The three friends sprinted to the pitch, Amara's umbrella not doing much to stop them getting soaked through. It turned inside-out, so Amara had to bin it anyway.

When the teams came out of the changing rooms they staggered in the wind. Amara was already frozen stiff and the wind was slowly stopping her from feeling anything. They couldn't even hear Madam Hooch's whistle to signal the start of the game, and Lee Jordan's commentary was pointless.

The game started but nobody knew what was happening – where the players were or what was going to happen. The wind was picking up and the sky was steadily getting darker and darker. The rain was continuing to lash down on them, and the stands were covered in a mass of umbrellas. Amara, Hermione and Ron were all huddled under Dean's enormous umbrella that had somehow managed to survive the wind. Amara could hardly see anything, the rain was obscuring her view and she was getting worried for the player's safety.

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightening and Amara could make out the Gryffindor Team huddled on the ground.

"I've got an idea!" beamed Hermione and she sprinted away, her cloak over her head all the while.

She wasn't gone long; she came back with a massive smile on her face as the team took to the air.

"I put a spell on Harry's glasses so that he can see," she explained.

"Genius!" Amara grinned and looked back at the game.

"Here," Hermione said, and pointed her wand at Ron and Amara's eyes. "_Impervius."_

"Hey, this spell works great!" Amara grinned as she looked up to see the players zooming about once more.

But the storm wasn't in the same mood. There was a very loud clap of thunder and a flash of forked lightening lit up the sky.

Amara shuddered as the players kept shooting around the pitch. Harry was flying this way and that, obviously searching for the snitch. When a second roll of thunder and lightning came around, though, he froze, as though in a trance. Cedric Diggory, however, was racing on his broom – the snitch not too far away. Just as Harry turned around, Amara felt a cold chill sweep up her spine, freezing her insides, sucking away her nice, happy memories … She gasped and pointed to the grounds. Hundreds of Dementors were flooding the pitch and stopping in the middle. Hermione screamed and clutched Amara's arm, who looked up and saw Harry slip sideways off his broomstick and hurtle towards the ground.

Amara screamed as he neared the ground, but Dumbledore ran onto the pitch, waved his wand, and Harry slowed down immediately. Then, Dumbledore shot the same silvery stuff as Lupin had at the Dementors, which made them turn and glide away. Dumbledore's booming voice stilled the storm as he became very angry.

"Amara," Ron said, who was extremely pale. "We have to go."

Amara saw Harry being put on a stretcher and led up to the castle. He was deathly pale and was very still. Amara gulped as tears sprung into her eyes. She hurried down the stands with Ron and Hermione as the tears went down her face, where they joined up with the Gryffindor Team, all having mud splattered on them.

"We lost," said Fred as they came nearer, explaining why Oliver Wood was looking so devastated.

"We need to go to Harry," Amara said, tugging his Gryffindor robes. Fred obliged and the whole team, minus Wood, all ran up to the hospital wing, where Harry was being laid on a bed.

"Is he alright?" Amara burst out. Madam Pomfrey looked up, startled, but her features softened as she saw their stricken faces.

She nodded. "He'll hopefully wake up soon." She walked back to her office to fill out a form.

They all crowded around the bed. Professor Flitwick and McGonagall came into the hospital wing.

"Is Mr Potter alright?" asked Flitwick squeakily.

"I think so," said Angelina.

"Madam Pomfrey said he'd wake up soon."

"Well, we best give this to you then," said the Professor, and he showed them a blanket holding dozens of pieces of wood.

"That's not his –"

"Broomstick? Yes, I'm afraid," Flitwick said. "The wind blew it away – and it smashed into the Whomping Willow." He left the broomstick on the bed and Hermione placed it into her bag.

The others all turned to watch Harry again.

"Lucky the ground was so soft," said Angelina, looking worried.

"I thought he was dead for sure," said Alicia.

"But he didn't even break his glasses," said Katie, wiping her hair out of her face.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life," George said fervently. Everyone nodded in agreement as Harry's eyes snapped open.

"Harry!" said Fred, who was still next to Amara, who had still got hold of his sleeve. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" Harry said, sitting up very fast, startling them all.

"You fell off," said Fred. "Must've been – what – fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, shaking.

"It was horrible," squeaked Amara.

"But the match," said Harry. "What happened? Are we having a replay?"

Nobody said a word.

"We didn't – _lose?"_

"Diggory got the snitch," said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realise what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a re-match. But they won fair and square … even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?"

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself.

Harry gripped his hair and Fred shook him with his free hand.

"C'mon Harry, you've never missed the snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," said George.

"It's not over yet," said Fred. "WE lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin …"

"Hufflepuff will have to lose by at least two hundred points," said George.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw …"

"No way, Ravenclaw are too good. But if Slytherin lose against Hufflepuff …"

"It all depends on the points – a margin of a hundred either way –"

Harry did not seem to care, though.

Madam Pomfrey finally came over and asked the team to leave. Amara grudgingly removed her hand from Fred's sleeve as he left.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred told him. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever hand."

Amara, Hermione and Ron went closer to the bed.

"Dumbledore was really angry," said Hermione. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the pitch as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the Dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium straight away … he was furious they'd come into the grounds – we heard him …"

"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," Ron said. "And walked up to the school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were …"

"It was horrible," Amara said.

"Did someone get my Nimbus?"

Amara gulped.

"What?"

"It blew away," said Amara, tears threatening to come out again. "And – and, oh, Harry, it smashed into the Whomping Willow!"

"And?" whispered Harry.

"Professor Flitwick brought it around," Amara said quietly. "It's – it's, well –"

And Hermione tipped the pieces of broomstick onto the bed, Harry looking miserably at his faithful broomstick.


	9. What happened in Hogsmeade

**_A/N Pheww - finished this one - and it's half term :D YAY! Enjoy - and thanks for all the review so far: _****BigBadWolfTardis, DaughterofTheHuntress, 81, BurnedSpy, CrazyPandaHobbit and Lily Rae :)**

**_Chapter Nine_**

**_What happened in Hogsmeade_**

Luckily, on Monday, Professor Lupin was back in his classroom and working again when they went to Defence Against the Dark Arts next. As soon as they entered, they burst out all their annoyance over Snape taking over Defence.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he set us homework?"

"We don't know anything about werewolves –"

"- two rolls of parchment!"

"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" asked Lupin.

"Yes, but he said we were really behind –"

"He wouldn't snap out of it –" Amara said.

"- he wouldn't listen –"

"- _two rolls of parchment!"_

"Don't worry," smiled Lupin. "I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."

"Oh _no," _said Hermione. "I've already finished it."

Their lesson was very enjoyable after that – Lupin had brought a Hinkypunk to the class, a one-legged creature that looked like it was made of smoke.

"Lures travellers into bogs," said Lupin. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead – people follow the light – then –"

The Hinkypunk made a squelching noise against the glass.

The bell rang and everyone went out of the classroom, but Harry got called behind.

"Wonder what he wants with Harry," said Amara as they went through the corridors.

"Amara! Uhm – Amara!" came a voice from behind them. Amara, Ron and Hermione turned to see Roger Malone hurrying towards them.

"Oh, hello Roger," said Amara. Roger had finally got some nerve back in Ancient Runes and had managed to speak to her finally.

"You left this in Ancient Runes this morning," said Roger hurriedly. He thrust a textbook into her hands.

"Oh, thanks Roger!" Amara beamed, making Roger blush.

"That's OK," he said. "Um, bye then."

"He's pretty pathetic," sniggered Ron as Roger went out of sight.

"Shut up," snapped Amara. "_I _think he's sweet."

When she got back into her dormitory, she found a piece of parchment in her textbook.

_RM._

That was all it said, and Amara frowned at it, confused. Then, she realised where she had seen it before – the Valentine's card from the year before.

"It was Roger!" said Amara to Hermione as she came back from the shower.

"What?"

"Roger gave me that card last year!"

"Oh," said Hermione, and she giggled. "Does he fancy you then?"

Amara blushed. "Oh dear," she giggled. "I think he does."

-OOOOO-

December slowly made its way around and the news that Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff made the Gryffindor's spirits rise. Amara received a letter on the first day of December from her parents, who she hadn't written too nearly as much as she had last year.

_Dear Amara,_

_We know you're busy at school, but you really need to write more than once in a while. Tessie's going mad without anyone at home – she has to wait until you're in your fifth year until she can go (which I guess she can)! Anyway, we were writing to tell you that we have decided to go on a little excursion this Christmas – we're going to see your Great Aunt Hillary in Australia for about three weeks. You are very welcome to join us, however, we don't know if both you and Ethan would be able to come, for it's very expensive and you'd either have to miss a week of Hogwarts or go back on the aeroplane on your own. Write back a reply with Archimedes soon!_

_Love_

_Mum & Dad_

"Amara, did you get that letter too?" asked Ethan from next to her.

"Yeah, what're you going to do?" Amara said.

"I'm staying here," Ethan said. "Eddie and Piper are staying too."

"Yeah," said Amara and glanced at Harry. "I think I'll stay here too, you know how annoying Great Aunt Hillary is."

Professor Flitwick definitely got into the mood of Christmas when there was only two weeks left. He decorated his classroom with real fairies. Ron and Hermione were staying for Christmas as well, as McGonagall had collected all the names staying. As well as this, there was going to be a Hogsmeade trip on the last weekend of term.

"Excellent," Amara grinned. "I can get those bonbons for Tessie!"

-OOOOO-

Amara, Ron and Hermione all bundled up the day of the Hogsmeade trip. They said their goodbyes to Harry in the Entrance Hall before heading off towards the village, trying to get out of the cold wind ripping through their layers.

They decided to go to Zonko's first, where they could get Harry his Christmas present. Then they went to Spintwitches and got Ethan's Christmas present (a book on Beaters). Then they made their way to Honeydukes to get the remainder of the presents, for there were more interesting things there.

Amara loaded up on all the things she wanted to buy for her family, before helping Ron and Hermione buy some extra sweets for Harry too. They went over to the 'Unusual Tastes' section, to see what they could find.

"Hey, what about these blood lollipops?" asked Amara, holding one up.

"Urgh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect," Hermione said.

"How about these?" asked Ron, showing them a jar of Cockroach Clusters.

"Definitely not."

Amara shrieked and whirled around. Harry stood there, grinning madly.

"_Harry!" _Hermione squealed.

"How did you get here?" asked Amara.

"Wow," said Ron. "You've learnt how to Apparate!"

"'Course I haven't," said Harry. "I just saw Fred and George. They gave me this map – _The Marauder's Map – _it shows everything in the castle – where everyone is and everything! It also shows the secret passageways out of the castle – that's how I got here, it landed in the cellar in Honeydukes."

"How come Fred and George never gave it to _me!" _Ron exclaimed. "I'm their brother!"

"But Harry isn't going to keep it!" said Hermione. "He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you Harry?"

"No I'm not!" said Harry.

"Honestly, Hermione," said Amara, shaking her head. "You're clever and all that, but seriously, you can say the dimmest things!"

"Amara's right – are you mad?" Ron goggled. "Hand in something that good?"

"If I hand it in, I'll have to tell them where I got it! Filch'll know Fred and George nicked it!"

"But what about Sirius Black?" hissed Hermione. "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!"

"He can't be getting through the passages," said Harry. "There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon Filch already knows about four of them. And the other three – one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. And the one I just came through – well – it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar – so unless he already knew it was there …"

Harry stopped, but Ron pointed to the notice on the sweetshop door.

_BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC_

_Customers are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of the Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall.  
Merry Christmas!_

"See?" Ron said. "I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with Dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, Hermione, the Honeydukes owners would hear the break in, wouldn't they? They live over the shop!"

"Yes, but - but -" Hermione struggled to find something else. "Look, Harry still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade, he hasn't got a signed form! If anyone finds out, he'll be in so much trouble! And it's not nightfall yet - what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"

"Have you seen the weather?" Amara asked. "It's hard for anyone to find Harry in this - and come on Hermione, it's Christmas!"

Hermione looked very worried.

"Are you going to report me?"

"Oh - of course not - but honestly Harry -"

"Seen the Fizzing Whizzbees, Harry?" Ron asked. "And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred has me one of those when I was seven - it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick." Ron looked thoughtful. "Reckon Fred'd take a hit of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?"

Amara rolled her eyes and went to pay for her sweets. When they were done, they headed out into the blizzard.

"Do you want my scarf, Harry? I have two on," Amara shouted, noticing Harry shivering. He nodded and she unwound it from her head and gave it to him. It didn't really help much, for the fierce wind whipped through it.

"That's the Post Office -"

"Zonko's is up there -"

"We could go up to the Shrieking Shack -"

"Or Dervish and Banges -"

"Tell you what," said Ron. "Shall we go for a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?"

Everyone agreed, so they all trundled up the street and hurried into the cosy, noisy and busy pub.

"That's Madam Rosmerta," said Ron, blushing. "I'll get the drinks, shall I?"

So Amara, Hermione and Harry went to the small table in the corner, next to a tall Christmas tree. Ron came back with four mugs of Butterbeer.

"Happy Christmas!" he said and they all echoed it, before drinking.

The door opened and Amara choked on her Butterbeer, spilling some of it onto the table. McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid and Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, had just wandered into the pub. Ron and Hermione, who were the ones next to Harry, forced him under the table. The group that had entered started towards them, so Hermione whispered: "_Mobiliarbus!" _

The Christmas tree shifted to the left, obscuring them from view. Madam Rosmerta came to their table, her turquoise sparkly heels flashing.

"A small Gillywater –"

"Mine," McGonagall said.

"Four pints of mulled mead –"

"Ta, Rosmerta," said Hagrid.

"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella –"

"Mmm!" squeaked Flitwick.

"So you'll be the redcurrant rum, Minister," Madam Rosmerta said.

"Thank you, Rosmerta, m'dear," said Fudge. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us …"

"Well, thank you very much Minister," said Madam Rosmerta and she walked away quickly, before flashing back again.

Amara wondered if they were going to be long, because she did not want to be stuck there – and Harry couldn't be seen. What if they didn't leave until everyone else had? They'd get into a lot of trouble if they arrived back after sundown. To take her mind off things, she drank some more Butterbeer, but even that taster sour now.

"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?"

"What else, m'dear," Fudge replied quietly, after checking no one was listening. "but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened at the school at Hallowe'en?"

"I did hear a rumour," said Madam Rosmerta.

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.

"Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"I'm sure of it," said Fudge shortly.

"You know that the dementors have searched the whole village twice?" said Madam Rosmerta, a slight edge to her voice. "Scared all my customers away... It's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta, dear, I don't like them any more than you do," said Fudge uncomfortably. He shifted on his seat. "Necessary precaution... unfortunate, but there you are... I've just met some of them. They're in a fury against Dumbledore-he won't let them inside the castle grounds."

"I should think not," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?"

"Hear, hear!" squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick, whose feet were dangling a foot from the ground.

"All the same," demurred Fudge, "they are here to protect you all from something much worse... We all know what Black's capable of..."

"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought... I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known."

"The worst?" said Madam Rosmerta, her voice alive with curiosity, "Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?"

"I certainly do," said Fudge.

"I can't believe that. What could possibly be worse?"

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," murmured Professor McGonagall, making Amara lean in to hear better. "Do you remember who his-best friend was?"

"Naturally," said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here-ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"

There was a clunk beneath them. Ron kicked Harry whilst Amara cast a wary glance at the Christmas tree. She couldn't blame Harry for dropping his tankard. She was in shock herself.

"Precisely," said Professor McGonagall. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course-exceptionally bright, in fact-but I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers -"

"I dunno," chuckled Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money."

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" chimed in Professor Flitwick. "Inseparable!"

"Of course they were," said Fudge. "Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him."

Sirius Black was Harry's _godfather? _Amara's eyes went round as she stared at Hermione and Ron, who both looked just as shocked.

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"Worse even than that, m'dear..." Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble, making it hard for Amara to hear again, she leaned over so that she was right next to the Christmas tree. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"How does that work?" said Madam Rosmerta, breathless with interest. Professor Flitwick cleared his throat.

"An immensely complex spell," he said squeakily, "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find-unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"

"So Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"Naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself... and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper himself."

"He suspected Black?" gasped Madam Rosmerta.

"He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements," said Professor McGonagall darkly. "Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."

"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"

"He did," said Fudge heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed -"

"Black betrayed them?" breathed Madam Rosmerta.

"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colours as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it -"

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet.

"Shh!" said Professor McGonagall.

"I met him!" growled Hagrid. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed! jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead... an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's Secret-Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid roared.

"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall. "Keep your voice down!"

"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him -' Ha! But I'd had me orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. 'I won't need it anymore,' he says.' I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it anymore? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him.  
"_But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh?_ I bet he'd 've pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His bes' friends' son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there's nothin' and no one that matters to em anymore..."

A long silence followed Hagrid's story. Then Madam Rosmerta said, with some satisfaction:

"But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him next day!"

"Alas, if only we had," said Fudge bitterly. "It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew-another of the Potters' friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, he went after Black himself."

"Pettigrew... that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" said Madam Rosmerta.

"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather, sharp with him. You can imagine how I -how I regret that now..." She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold.

"There, now, Minerva," said Fudge kindly, "Pettigrew died a hero's death.

Eyewitnesses-Muggles, of course, we wiped their memories later - told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They say he was sobbing, 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?' And then he went for his wand. Well, of course, Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens..."

Professor McGonagall blew her nose and said thickly, "Stupid boy ...foolish boy... he was always hopeless at dueling... should have left it to the Ministry..."

"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't've messed around with wands-I'd've ripped him limb-from-limb," Hagrid growled.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Hagrid," said Fudge sharply. "Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I-I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him... a heap of blood-stained robes and a few - a few fragments -"

Fudge's voice stopped abruptly. There was the sound of five noses being blown.

"Well, there you have it, Rosmerta," said Fudge thickly. "Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement 'Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since."

Madam Rosmerta let out a long sigh.

"Is it true he's mad, Minister?"

"I wish I could say that he was," said Fudge slowly. "I certainly believe his master's defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man-cruel... pointless. Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit muttering to themselves in the dark; there's no sense in them... but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored-asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the dementors seemed to be having on him-and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night."

"But what do you think he's broken out to do?" said Madam Rosmerta. "Good gracious, Minister, he isn't trying to re-join You-Know-Who, is he?"

"I daresay that is his – err - eventual plan," said Fudge evasively. "But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing... but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again..."

There was a small chink of glass on wood. Someone had set down their glass.

"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, he'd better head back up to the castle," said Professor McGonagall.

So, one by one, the teachers left and Madam Rosmerta returned to her place at the bar. Amara was in shock, having heard the conversation without thinking about it. James Potter was best friends with Sirius Black? He was the _reason _Harry had no parents? Amara felt a surge of anger rush through her at the thought. If Sirius Black had not been friends with James Potter, Harry would be enjoying life with his parents without worrying about the Dursley's or Voldemort!

Amara peered under the table with Ron and Hermione. They stared at him for ages, all not knowing what to say.


	10. The Mysterious Benefactor

**_A/N Oh dear it's been ages since I last updated! I'm so sorry, I've had a hectic life at the moment - and I have GCSE mocks starting tomorrow (Maths - eurgh) so I should actually be revising ... :/ Hmm, I _****finally ****_got this chapter done - it honestly took ages to do, but I hope it's satisfactory. Please R&R_**

**_Chapter Ten_**

**_The Mysterious Benefactor_**

The walk back to Hogwarts was in silence, each friend in their own thoughts. Harry had left them to get back down the Honeydukes cellar, and everything from the conversation was playing on their minds.

All through dinner, they watched Harry, but couldn't say anything, for Percy was near them. When they had got back to the common room, Harry went straight up to bed, because Fred and George had let off a load of dungbombs in end-of-term spirits. Amara, who usually would've laughed with them, tuned them out and ignored the excited shouts, and instead sat on the sofa with Ron and Hermione. Fred and George looked bemused, but waved it off quickly.

"What do we _do?" _Amara voiced everyone's thoughts.

Ron and Hermione just looked helplessly at her.

"You should go check up on him," Hermione said abruptly. Ron gave her a look before getting up and going up to the dormitory. He came down two minutes later.

"He's pretending to be asleep," he said as he sunk back down.

Amara sighed. "Well," she said. "What's the point in staying down here? I'm off to bed, see you in the morning."

She trooped up to her dormitory and flopped onto her four-poster bed. She took a glance at the pictures that were on the wall, stuck on by Spellotape. Some were muggle pictures – frozen in their frames, contrasting the wizard photographs next to them, where the occupants moved about. There was one of her, Tessie and Ethan – another of all her cousins at her mother's birthday party. The last Muggle one was of her parents and grandparents. There was another one of Jesse, Noah and Tally, a moving one this time, all in their Beauxbatons uniforms, a silk blue robe that Tally seemed to love, because she kept swishing it about. There was also one of Hermione and Amara, which her mother had made, and Jesse had sent her a potion that made it move.

Amara thought about how lucky she was with her family, and felt sorry for how Harry's seemed to get more broken up by the day. The only horrible thing to have happened with her family was when her Grandma Rose died and when her Grandfather, Kleon Agape, dived off a cliff and hit the rocks below (he spent a good six months in Hospital, and it meant that his wife, their other Grandmother, Grandma Thomasina, stayed with them).

She knew that Harry was not asleep, and wished that they hadn't listened to the conversation – in fact, she wished that Fred and George had not given the Marauder's Map to them. Then, she realised, it was all Sirius Black's fault – Harry wouldn't have _needed _the Map to get into Hogsmeade – he wouldn't have even heard the conversation because his parents would have been alive. But then, Amara countered herself, what would have happened to Voldemort? Would he still be alive and running around the country, killing off Muggleborns? Would Amara even be there, if he was, and he destroyed all letters addressed to them? She wouldn't know Harry, Ron or Hermione, she wouldn't know that Jesse, Noah and Tally were magical and would be at some boring, grey school with no proper friends.

With these horrible thoughts in mind, Amara drifted off into an uneasy sleep, filled with lies and murderers.

-OOOOO-

The next morning, Amara met Ron and Hermione down in the common room. Apparently, Harry was still asleep, so the three of them went down to the nearly empty Great Hall to have breakfast. They did not talk much, for it was very quiet, as only about three other students were there. They did in the end, however, once a bed-headed Ethan, Eddie and Piper wandered in. Piper, eventhough she was a Ravenclaw, decided to sit with them, because the only other first years were two Hufflepuffs, and she said they were very annoying.

"It is lonely up in the Dormitory though," admitted Piper as she ate her toast. "I mean, imagine having the entire dorm to yourself, and the common room? It's a bit depressing, actually, d'you think Dumbledore would mind if I could stay with you in Gryffindor Tower for the holidays? I don't think Flitwick would."

"I don't know," said Eddie. "What about McGonagall?"

"She loves me," Piper waved her hand. "And if _Dumbledore _allows it, then of course she would!"

They carried on debating their chances, so Amara, Ron and Hermione wished them luck before heading upstairs and sitting in the common room. Hermione retrieved her bag and started her homework over three tables, Amara and Ron got all their sweets as Amara half-heartedly did her Ancient Runes essay.

"We have to tell him," Hermione said after a while.

"About what?"

"Well," Hermione said. "He's bound to want to get back at Black, you know? And you know …"

"We should talk about it with him?" asked Amara and Hermione nodded.

"He'll want to go after Black," said Ron.

"But that's stupid!" Hermione said. "That's utterly stupid! He mustn't!"

"Black isn't worth dying for," Ron said, shaking his head.

"Well, we'll see how talking to him goes, first," Amara said, eating a chocolate frog. "Hey Ron, do you have another Chocoball? I think I've eaten all mine."

"But they're mine," said Ron indignantly.

"Oh, _c'mon _Ron," moaned Amara. "They're my _favourite. _I'll trade three Peppermint Toads for two Chocoballs – see, you get one free!"

"Fine," said Ron. "Only because I like them."

Harry did not surface until nearly lunchtime. By that time, Amara and Ron had played five games of chess, three games of who-can-get-the-parchment-into-the-waste-paper-basket and six games of gobstones. In fact, Ron had just said that he was going to go and fetch him when he came trooping down the stairs, looking awful.

"Harry, you look like crap!" Amara said, and Ron elbowed her. "_Ow!"_

"Where is everyone?"

"Gone! It's the first day of the holidays, remember?" said Ron. "It's nearly lunctime, I was going to come and wake you up in a minute."

Harry slumped into a chair next to Amara, looking terrible.

"You really don't look well you know," said Hermione.

"I'm fine."

"Listen Harry," said Hermione. "You must be really upset about what we heard yesterday. But the thing is, you mustn't go doing anything stupid."

"Like what?" said Harry.

"Like looking for Black," said Amara.

Harry said nothing.

"You won't, will you?" asked Hermione.

"Because Black's not worth dying for," said Ron.

"D'you know what I see and hear every time a Dementor gets too near me? I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you'd heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, you wouldn't forget that is a hurry. And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her –"

"She wouldn't want _you _to track him down!" exclaimed Amara. "Look at it from our point of view too!"

"And the Dementors will catch Black and he'll go back to Azkaban and serve him right!" said Hermione.

"You heard what Fudge said. Black isn't affected by Azkaban like normal people are. It's not a punishment for him like it is for the others."

"So what are you saying?" said Ron, looking very tense. "You want to-to kill Black or something?"

"Don't be silly," said Hermione in a panicky voice. "Harry doesn't want to kill anyone, do you, Harry?"

Harry didn't answer for a few tense minutes.

"Malfoy knows," he said abruptly. "Remember what he said to me in Potions? _'If it was me, I'd hunt him down myself... I'd want revenge.'"_

"You're going to take Malfoy's advice instead of ours?" said Ron furiously. "Listen... you know what Pettigrew's mother got back after Black had finished with him? Dad told me-the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box. That was the biggest bit of him they could find. Black's a madman, Harry, and he's dangerous -"

"Malfoy's dad must have told him," said Harry, ignoring Ron. "He was right in Voldemort's inner circle -"

"Say You-Know-Who, will you?" interjected Ron angrily.

"- so obviously, the Malfoys knew Black was working for Voldemort -"

"- and Malfoy'd love to see you blown into about a million pieces, like Pettigrew! Get a grip. Malfoy's just hoping you'll get Yourself killed before he has to play you at Quidditch."

"Harry, please," said Hermione, her eyes now shining with tears, "Please be sensible. Black did a terrible, terrible thing, but d-don't Put Yourself in danger, it's what Black wants... Oh, Harry, you'd be Playing right into Black's hands if you went looking for him. Your mum and dad wouldn't want you to get hurt, would they? They'd never want you to go looking for Black!"

"I'll never know what they'd have wanted, because thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them," said Harry shortly.

There was a silence in which Crookshanks stretched luxuriously flexing his claws. Ron's pocket quivered.

"Look," said Ron, obviously casting around for a change of subject, "it's the holidays! It's nearly Christmas! Let's-let's go down and see Hagrid. We haven't visited him for ages!"

"No!" said Hermione quickly. "Harry isn't supposed to leave the castle, Ron -"

"Yeah, let's go," said Harry, sitting up, "and I can ask him how come he never mentioned Black when he told me all about my parents!"

"_No!_" Amara exclaimed and everyone looked at her. "That's enough talk of Black – it's _Christmas_, like Ron said! Let's go and _be happy _with Hagrid! Not talk about that wretched man!"

So they got their cloaks from their dormitories and set off through the portrait hole down through the empty castle and out through the oak front doors.

They made their way slowly down the lawn, making a shallow trench in the glittering, powdery snow, their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing. The Forbidden Forest looked as though it had been enchanted, each tree smattered with silver, and Hagrid's cabin looked like an iced cake.

Ron knocked, but there was no answer.

"He's not out, is he?" said Hermione, who was shivering under her cloak.

Ron had his ear to the door.

"There's a weird noise," he said. "Listen-is that Fang?"

Amara, Harry and Hermione put their ears to the door too. From inside the cabin came a series of low, throbbing moans.

"Think we'd better go and get someone?" said Ron nervously.

"Hagrid!" called Harry, thumping the door. "Hagrid, are you in there.

There was a sound of heavy footsteps, then the door creaked open. Hagrid stood there with his eyes red and swollen, tears splashing down the front of his leather vest.

"You've heard?" he bellowed, and he flung himself onto Harry's neck.

Hagrid being at least twice the size of a normal man, this was no laughing matter. Harry, about to collapse under Hagrid's weight, was rescued by Amara, Ron and Hermione, who each seized Hagrid under an arm and heaved him back into the cabin. Hagrid allowed himself to be steered into a chair and slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably, his face glazed with tears that dripped down into his tangled beard.

"Hagrid, what is it?" said Amara.

Harry spotted an official-looking letter lying open on the table.

"What's this, Hagrid?"

Hagrid's sobs redoubled, but he shoved the letter toward Harry, who picked it up and read aloud:

_'__Dear Mr. Hagrid,_

_Further to our inquiry into the attack by a hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident._

"Well, that's okay then, Hagrid!" said Ron, slapping his shoulder. But Hagrid continued to sob, and waved one of his gigantic hands, inviting Harry to read on.

_However, we must register our concern about the hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated. Yours in fellowship...'_

Harry trailed off.

"Oh," said Ron. "But you said Buckbeak isn't a bad hippogriff, Hagrid. I bet he'll get off

"Yeh don' know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!" choked Hagrid, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!"

There was a sound in the corner and the four of them whipped around to see the hippogriff tethered to the bed, chomping on something horrible, as it was oozing blood across the floor.

"I couldn' leave him tied up out there in the snow!" choked Hagrid. "All on his own! At Christmas."

Amara shifted uncomfortably. Hagrid had never really understood the difference between monsters and '_interesting creatures'._

"You'll have to put up a good strong defence, Hagrid," said Hermione, sitting down and laying a hand on Hagrid's massive forearm. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe."

"Won't make no diff'rence!" sobbed Hagrid. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! Ad if I lose the case, Buckbeak -"

Hagrid drew his finger swiftly across his throat, then gave a great wail and lurched forward, his face in his arms.

"What about Dumbledore, Hagrid?" said Harry.

"He's done more'n enough fer me already," groaned Hagrid. "Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around -"

Amara, Ron and Hermione looked quickly at Harry, scared about his reaction. Amara crossed her fingers under the table.

"Listen, Hagrid," he said, "you can't give up. Hermione's right, you just need a good defence. You can call us as witnesses -"

"Yeah, and I can get the others to be witnesses too – they'll say it was Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" Amara said.

"I'm sure I've read about a case of hippogriff-baiting," said Hermione thoughtfully, "Where the hippogriff got off I'll look it up for you, Hagrid, and see exactly what happened."

Hagrid howled still more loudly. Amara, Harry and Hermione looked at Ron to help them.

"Er-shall I make a cup of tea?" said Ron.

They stared.

"It's what my mum does whenever someone's upset," Ron muttered, shrugging.

At last, after many more assurances of help, with a steaming mug of tea in front of him, Hagrid blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and said, "Yer right. I can' afford to go ter pieces. Gotta pull meself together...

Fang the boarhound came timidly out from under the table and laid his head on Hagrid's knee.

"I've not bin meself lately," said Hagrid, stroking Fang with one hand and mopping his face with the other. "Worried abou' Buckbeak, an' no one likin' me classes -"

"We do like them!" lied Hermione at once.

"Yeah, they're great!" said Ron, crossing his fingers under the table. "Er-how are the flobberworms?"

"Dead," said Hagrid gloomily. "Too much lettuce."

"Oh no!" said Amara and Ron, their lips twitching.

"An' them dementors make me feel ruddy terrible an' all," said Hagrid, with a sudden shudder. "Gotta walk past 'em ev'ry time I want a drink in the Three Broomsticks. 'S like bein' back in Azkaban -"

He fell silent, gulping his tea. Amara, Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched him breathlessly. Hagrid had never mentioned his time in Azkaban before. After a pause, Hermione said timidly, "Is it awful in there, Hagrid?"

"Yeh've no idea," said Hagrid quietly. "Never bin anywhere like it. Thought I was goin' mad. Kep' goin' over horrible stuff in me mind... the day I got expelled from Hogwarts... day me dad died... day I had ter let Norbert go..."

His eyes filled with tears. Norbert was the baby dragon Hagrid had once won in a game of cards.

"Yeh can' really remember who yeh are after a while. An' yeh can' really see the point o' livin' at all. I used ter hope I'd jus' die in me sleep. When they let me out, it was like bein' born again, ev'rythin' I came floodin' back, it was the bes' feelin' in the world. Mind, the dementors weren't keen on lettin' me go."

"But you were innocent!" said Hermione.

Hagrid snorted.

"Think that matters to them? They don' care. Long as they've got a couple o' hundred humans stuck there with 'em, so they can leech all the happiness out of 'em, they don' give a damn who's guilty an' who's not."

Hagrid went quiet for a moment, staring into his tea. Then he said quietly, "Thought o' jus' letting Buckbeak go... tryin' ter make him fly away... but how d'yeh explain ter a hippogriff it's gotta go inter hidin'? An' -an' I'm scared o' breakin' the law..." He looked up at them, tears leaking down his face again. "I don' ever want ter go back ter Azkaban."

-OOOOO-

The trip to Hagrid's had certainly made an impression on all four of them. They decided to help Hagrid with all that they could to prevent Buckbeak getting prosecuted. The next day, four days before Christmas Eve, the four friends trooped to the library and back again, laden with armfuls of huge volumes, hopefully containing vital information that could get Buckbeak let off. They were silent as they worked, kept warm by the roaring fire, and occasionally speaking, if they found something.

"Here's something... there was a case in 1722... but the hippogriff was convicted-ugh, look what they did to it, that's disgusting -"

"This might help, look-a manticore savaged someone in 1296, and they let the manticore off-oh-no, that was only because everyone was too scared to go near it."

"There was a giant bugbear that got convicted – oh, hey cool, it got its own forest because it was only attacking people because it was held captive…"

Eddie, Ethan and Piper, who had been allowed to stay in Gryffindor Tower, had busied themselves elsewhere in the castle, taking it upon themselves to explore every inch of it before the start of the new term.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the castle, the usual magnificent Christmas decorations had been put up, despite the fact that hardly any of the students remained to enjoy them. Thick streamers of holly and mistletoe were strung along the corridors, mysterious lights shone from inside every suit of armour, and the Great Hall was filled with its usual twelve Christmas trees, glittering with golden stars. A powerful and delicious smell of cooking pervaded the corridors, and by Christmas Eve, it had grown so strong that even Scabbers poked his nose out of the shelter of Ron's pocket to sniff hopefully at the air.

On Christmas Day, Amara awoke slightly earlier than usual to find a large pile of presents at the edge of her bed.

"Morning," said Hermione, already opening hers. "Thanks for the charm –" she held up the little charm of a hedgehog that Amara had given her.

"No problem," grinned Amara, starting her pile. She received a nice warm jumper from Mrs Weasley, in a nice pale pink, to add to her collection. From Harry, she got some different flavoured hot chocolate packets, from Ron a massive box of Chocoballs. She received some colour-changing nail varnish from Ginny and a scrapbook from the Reynolds, as well as some scented candles. She got a whole row of photos in frames from her family, which she stuck on the wall, next to her other ones, as well as some new comfy clothes and money that she had left at home so that she wouldn't spend it all in Hogsmeade the first time around.

She changed into her new jumper and joggers and went with Hermione to meet Harry and Ron. She was holding Crookshanks, who was looking irritated, having been forced to have a string of tinsel around his neck the day before. They saw Eddie, Ethan and Piper wandering out of the portrait hole as they went down, all three of them looking rather suspicious.

Once entering the bedroom, they found Harry and Ron rolling around laughing.

"What're you two laughing about?" asked Hermione, dropping Crookshanks onto Seamus' bed.

"Don't bring him in here!" said Ron, hurriedly snatching Scabbers from the depths of his bed and stowing him in his pyjama pocket.

But Hermione wasn't listening. She stared at something on Harry's bed. Amara went and sat on Neville's bed and looked over too. On it was a broomstick, sleek and shiny, the newest model – a Firebolt.

"Oh, _Harry!_ Who sent you that?"

"No idea," said Harry. "There wasn't a card or anything with it."

"Holy mother of _Merlin _Harry!" exclaimed Amara. "That's the best broom ever!"

"I know," grinned Harry.

"Can I see it? Can I just _touch it?" _

"What's the matter with you?" came Ron's voice. Amara turned and saw Hermione looking very wary.

"I don't know," said Hermione slowly, "but it's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?"

Ron sighed exasperatedly.

"It's the best broom there is, Hermione," he said.

"So it must've been really expensive..."

"Probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together," said Ron happily.

"Well... who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?" said Hermione.

"Who cares?" said Ron impatiently. "Listen, Harry, can I have a go on it? Can I?"

"Can I as well?" grinned Amara. "OH please?"

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!" said Hermione shrilly.

Amara, Harry and Ron looked at her.

"What d'you think Harry's going to do with it-sweep the floor?" said Ron.

But before Hermione could answer, Crookshanks sprang from Seamus's bed, right at Ron's chest.

"GET-HIM-OUT-OF-HERE!" Ron bellowed as Crookshanks's claws ripped his pyjamas and Scabbers attempted a wild escape over his shoulder. Ron seized Scabbers by the tail and aimed a misjudged kick at Crookshanks that hit the trunk at the end of Harry's bed, knocking it over and causing Ron to hop up and down, howling with pain.

Crookshanks's fur suddenly stood on end. A shrill, tint, whistling was filling the room. The Pocket Sneakoscope had become dislodged from come old socks from Harry's trunk and was whirling and gleaming on the floor.

"I forgot about that!" Harry said, bending down and picking up the Sneakoscope. I never wear those socks if I can help it...

The Sneakoscope whirled and whistled in his palm. Crookshanks was hissing and spitting at it.

"You'd better take that cat out of here, Hermione," said Ron furiously, sitting on Harry's bed nursing his toe. "Can't you shut that thing up?" he added to Harry as Hermione strode out of the room, Crookshanks's yellow eyes still fixed maliciously on Ron.

Harry stuffed the Sneakoscope back inside the socks and threw it back into his trunk. All that could be heard now were Ron's stifled moans of pain and rage. Scabbers was huddled in Ron's hands. Scabbers was looking very ill now. Amara remembered him to being fat and sleep all the time; now, his fur was falling out and his bones were showing.

"He's not looking too good, is he?" Harry said.

"It's stress!" said Ron. "He'd be fine if that big stupid furball left him alone!"

Amara bit her lip and walked out the room, ready to find Hermione. She was in the dorm, Crookshanks curled up on Sophie's bed.

"Why did you say that?" Amara asked her.

"Because there could be something dangerous about that broomstick!" Hermione said.

"How?" Amara said, confused. "It's a highly magical object, it'd take a lot of magic to affect that, and probably Dark Magic too."

"Precisely!" Hermione said. "It could've been sent by Sirius Black!"

Amara blinked, then snorted.

"_Sirius Black?" _she said. "He's _on the run,_ Hermione! How is he meant to get his hands on a more than 300 Galleon broomstick? He can't just waltz into Quality Quidditch Supplies!"

"I don't know," said Hermione.

Amara frowned. "Hmf, don't you do anything, Hermione." She walked out of the door, leaving Hermione facing away from her.

Christmas spirit was definitely thin on the ground in the Gryffindor common room that morning. Hermione had shut Crookshanks in her dormitory, but was furious with Ron for trying to kick him; Ron was still fuming about Crookshanks's fresh attempt to eat Scabbers. Amara gave up trying to make them talk to each other, for Amara was cross with Hermione as well, so she and Harry devoted themselves to examining the Firebolt, which Harry had brought down to the common room with him. For some reason this seemed to annoy Hermione as well; she didn't say anything, but she kept looking darkly at the broom as though it too had been criticizing her cat.

At lunchtime they went down to the Great Hall, to find that the House tables had been moved against the walls again, and that a single table, set for seventeen, stood in the middle of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch, the caretaker, who had taken off his usual brown coat and was wearing a very old and rather mouldy looking tailcoat. There were only three other students with Piper, Ethan and Eddie, two extremely nervous-looking first years and a sullen-faced Slytherin fifth year. Piper, Ethan and Eddie waved them over to their end of the table.

"Merry Christmas!" said Dumbledore as Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the table. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables... Sit down, sit down!"

Amara sat down with her brother and friends.

"Crackers!" said Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering the end of a large silver noisemaker to Snape, who took it reluctantly and tugged. With a bang like a gunshot, the cracker flew apart to reveal a large, pointed witches hat topped with a stuffed vulture.

Snape's mouth thinned and he pushed the hat toward Dumbledore, who swapped it for his wizard's hat at once.

"Dig in!" he advised the table, beaming around. Amara pulled a cracker with Piper, which contained a good set of gobstones, which Amara gave to her and a few white mice. Piper caught one and put it on her shoulder, which it happily sat.

As they were eating the doors of the Great Hall opened again. It was Professor Trelawney, gliding toward them as though on wheels. She had put on a green sequined dress in honour of the occasion, making her look more than ever like a glittering, oversized dragonfly.

"Sybill, this is a pleasant surprise!" said Dumbledore, standing up.

"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest, most faraway voice, "and to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you to forgive my lateness..."

Certainly, certainly," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Let me draw you up a chair -"

And he did indeed draw a chair in mid-air with his wand, which revolved for a few seconds before falling with a thud between Professors Snape and McGonagall. Professor Trelawney sat down with a lot of grace.

"Tripe, Sybill?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Professor Trelawney ignored her. Eyes open, she looked around once more and said, "But where is dear Professor Lupin?"

"I'm afraid the poor fellow is ill again," said Dumbledore, indicating that everybody should start serving themselves. "Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas Day."

"But surely you already knew that, Sybill?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyebrows raised.

Professor Trelawney gave Professor McGonagall a very cold look.

"Certainly I knew, Minerva," she said quietly. "But one does not parade the fact that one is AllKnowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous."

"That explains a great deal," said Professor McGonagall tartly.

Professor Trelawney's voice suddenly became a good deal less misty.

"If you must know, Minerva, I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short. He positively fled when I offered to crystal gaze for him -"

"Imagine that," said Professor McGonagall dryly.

"I doubt," said Dumbledore, in a cheerful but slightly raised voice, which put an end to Professor McGonagall and Professor Trelawney's conversation, "that Professor Lupin is in any immediate danger. Severus, you've made the potion for him again?"

"Yes, Headmaster," said Snape.

"Good," said Dumbledore. Amara shifted slightly, aware that nobody else but Hermione knew what on earth was going on. Well, except for the teachers, who all seemed to know. "Then he should be up and about in no time … Derek, have you had any of these chipolatas? They're excellent."

The first-year Hufflepuff named Derek went bright red and took the platter shakily.

Amara was stuffed like a turkey once she had finished, and she, Harry and Ron stood up first.

"Coming?" Amara asked Hermione, who had stayed sat down. Eddie, Ethan and Piper had gotten up too and had walked away, out of the front doors to see Hagrid in his cabin.

"No," said Hermione. "I want a quick word with Professor McGonagall."

Amara frowned at her as they walked away.

"Probably trying to see if she can take any more classes," Ron said. But Amara had a horrible feeling it was about the Firebolt.

"Merry – hic – Christmas! Password?" said a rather drunk Sir Cadogan when they reached the portrait hole.

"Scurvy cur," Ron replied.

"And the same to you, sir!"

Harry retrieved his Firebolt from his dorm so he and Ron could admire it. Amara glanced warily at it, wandering what Hermione was doing. She came in a little while later – accompanied by Professor McGonagall.

Amara suddenly knew that she had gone and told McGonagall about the Firebolt, for she was looking at it.

"So that's it, is it?" she said, staring at the broomstick. "Miss Granger informed me that you have been sent a broomstick, Potter."

Hermione had hidden herself behind a book, which was upside down.

"May I?" she asked, taking it out of Harry and Ron's hands. "Hmm. And there was no note at all, Potter? No card? No message of any kind?"

"No."

"I see …" said Professor McGonagall. "Well, I'm afraid I will have to take this, Potter."

"W-what?" said Harry, scrambling to his feet as Amara and Ron gaped at her. "Why?"

"It will need to be checked for jinxes," said Professor McGonagall. "Of course, I'm no expert, but I daresay Madam Hooch and Professor Flitwick will strip it down -"

"Strip it down?" repeated Ron, as though Professor McGonagall was mad.

"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks," said Professor McGonagall. "You will have it back if we are sure it is jinx-free."

"There's nothing wrong with it!" said Harry, his voice shaking slightly. "Honestly, Professor -"

"You can't know that, Potter," said Professor McGonagall, quite kindly, "not until you've flown it, at any rate, and I'm afraid that is out of the question until we are certain that it has not been tampered with. I shall keep you informed."

Professor McGonagall turned on her heel and carried the Firebolt out of the portrait hole, which closed behind her. Harry stood staring after her, the tin of High-Finish Polish still clutched in his hands. Ron and Amara, however, rounded on Hermione.

_"What did you go running to McGonagall for?"_

Hermione threw her book aside. She was still pink in the face, but stood up and faced Ron defiantly.

"Because I thought-and Professor McGonagall agrees with me-that that broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!"


End file.
